Tree of Knowledge

Norfolk Islands – Tree of Knowledge

Can you ever imagine, let alone recall, a time before telephones and newspapers were non-existent or rarely seen, a time when the mail only came when the steamer was in, or even when cables were delivered to your front door by a man on horseback? If you can recall this other time you may well have stood at the Tree of Knowledge to garner news of happenings here and abroad.

The famed Pine Avenue, and the unsung Little Pine Avenue, was said to have been planted in 1835 during the second convict settlement and consisted of 375 Norfolk Pine trees which were planted to mark both sides of the finest straight of the island’s roads. By the time the Pitcairners arrived for resettlement in 1856 these pines were well established. After a time, the Council of Elders selected a notable tree and decided that it should serve a sacred purpose. Devout in their observance of Christianity this tree upon which a notice board had been fixed became the bulletin centre for sacred news. Over the years this tree assumed a mystic importance and a much wider purpose. The Avenue itself was a cathedral of pines running both sides of the road. It was a place of pride and joy to the islanders and to this day its grandeur is spoken about with awe and respect in a kind of hushed reverential way. Even those of us who have never seen its majesty mourn its loss and there is rarely a home or a hallway on the Island which does not boast a print, painting or photograph of the Avenue of Pines.

The Tree of Knowledge was part of that Avenue and it was remembered by Islanders prior to its destruction in 1942 as a huge and glorious tree rising some 175 majestic feet. On the boards attached to its noble trunk were placed notices written or painted on calico bags, generally old flour sacks. It is said that in the Avenue itself branches joined overhead and beneath the canopy there was shade and quietude, where pine needles muted the sound of movement. Undoubtedly amongst those majestic pines the Tree of Knowledge held a very special place and served a most practical purpose. How it got its name is probably purely pragmatic and self-explanatory but it strikes me at least as symbolic, ironic and not too coincidental, that on an island among a people historically recognized for their devoutness, that in the Book of Genesis in the bible Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.

Strange as it may now seem, in times gone by it was not uncommon for people on one side of the island to see those on the other side no more than once or twice a year, on special occasions. It made sense to keep people informed by way of public notices pinned to a centrally located Norfolk pine tree. The Government and the Cable Station from 1902 also placed notices and world news on the tree. You can imagine how this tree and the notices fixed upon it were the lifeline and the lifeblood of this little community and how, like we look forward to getting the local papers, people looked forward to drinking in the ‘knowledge’ appended thereon, and how beneath its tactful branches they caught up on a little ‘dem tal’ (local gossip).

During World War I, cable news was also posted at the Tree of Knowledge. Islanders came to seek news of loved ones serving in distant lands they had never heard of and would unlikely see in their lifetime. Later on notices of all kinds appeared, public meetings, special events, auctions, dances, pictures, gymkhanas, public works lists, or when the next steamer was due – all noteworthy happenings were posted there. This tree was a pivotal point of communal life and upon its noble trunk were pinned all kinds of social announcements and proclamations and anything one islander thinks another islander should know, what is lost, what is found, what was to be done or not, everything was faithfully heralded by the Tree of Knowledge. I am certain barely anybody on the Island would have dared to ride past the Tree of Knowledge without sneaking a peak; it would never have failed to arouse some curiosity.

One of the most curious kinds of notices to be pinned to the tree concerned the alarming arrival of the motor car. Cars were originally only permitted to drive on the roads on two days of the week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. People were afraid they would be run down or their frightened horses would run off the cliffs so it was decreed that any person owning a motor vehicle was to pin a notice to the Tree of Knowledge advising people when the car would be on the road and the intended route.

The advent of the Second World War was to change the landscape and face of island life forever. Norfolk’s sons and daughters had already answered the call and were at the time fighting in England, the Middle East, New Guinea and other islands of the Pacific while some were languishing as prisoners of war in Singapore. Apart from rationing and other measures associated with war time, life on the island carried on its slow unhurried pace until General MacArthur’s headquarters in the South-West Pacific declared that an airfield should be built on the island.

According to the few written accounts, when it was heard that the Tree of Knowledge, and the Avenue of Pines which it was part of, was to be destroyed an aged island lady voiced her resentment and that of her people, by stating that a curse would hang on over the heads of anyone who destroyed the tree, that it was sacrilege and an Act of God would not let it be. Nevertheless, on a rather bleak and sadly sunny morning in October 1942 almost the entire island gathered to witness the brutal destruction of their beloved Tree of Knowledge. Apparently there was deep superstition amongst the islanders that this sacred tree should not be disturbed and in some of their minds at least they believed nothing could move their tree. They awoke however to find that overnight the roots had been cut and the ground thoroughly soaked to soften it. A hole was bored into the ground and heavily packed with gelignite. There was a thunderous bang as the explosives ripped into the tree followed by a deep silence as the tree was stripped bare of its branches and bulldozed aside. It was a sad day indeed.

It is fair to say that those concerned with the building of the airport did show some empathy and remorse towards the Islander’s plight. Three other sites had previously been examined, one in the New Cascade area, another out at Anson Bay and also Steeles Point but at the end of the day there was really only one suitable site for the building of the aerodrome. As well as the resumption of land and the removal of homes and buildings on the site, the Avenue of Pines was ultimately sacrificed to the war effort.

The Tree of Knowledge is no more but islanders still talk about it and its memory survives through the oral history lessons passed down to us at our grandparents feet or bedside. For them initially there were no wireless radios or transistors and very few telephones. The building of the Cable & Wireless Station out at Anson Bay further changed the face of this little isolated Island community. The islanders received regular news and messages from ‘abroad’ via the cable station and from that time onwards cables were delivered by a messenger on horseback and eventually horsepower. It is interesting to note that official messages were sent in code and required tedious decoding. Eventually the telephone and internet joined the technological road into the island’s way of life.

Fittingly, on the 6th September 1991 on her 99th birthday Mrs Gordina (Aunty Gordie) Beveridge MBE planted a new Tree of Knowledge in the lawn in front of the Bicentennial Complex.

Aa Trii o’ Nohlej iin Pain Aewenyu

Dem pain was ya fas for wi aewa shef krors

S’ plantet bai kohnwik lieba fors

Inch bai inch dem kontinyu f’ groe

Staanen agaeda roe apon roe

Yaren nathing bat’ briis en em iwi or berd

Tal sam mien pik aut wan’ talen haadli a werd.

En orn aa naali oel trank dem stig orn wan bord

F’ giw nyuus fram ap yena en werd fram aa Lord

Nau imaejen em hors en’ em kaat tanen ap

“Kam si mii, wi gu huam haew wan kap”

En wieh em lorng tang stideya torktorken iin gliii

“Nau huus daa, en wats daa, en truu es ai ya shi laan’ mii.

En watawieh Faad, en hau yu gwen bradha,

Huus orl em salan, en wat wieh es yus madha?”

En orl thruu dem iyas aa trii wud fiehthfuli bring

Nyuus fram uya en ap yena fram auwas King.

En den kam wan dieh blaekes aewa el bii

Dem desaid f’ bloe ap en push or aklans baeses pain trii

En nau yorlye du klai kos s’ gorn, s’ lorng lorng lorng gorn

Bat mai werd ai wud giw enithing f’ jes kam ya aata orn

Credit : Norfolk Island Living Library

Credit : Bounty Museum