In the history of the Pitcairn
Island people there have been critical periods which, in retrospect, required
the assistance of “outsiders” to proceed.
The original John Buffett may be the initial one of these people. He was the first to bring new ideas and
skills to the community. Captain William
Driver, who took it upon himself in 1831 to return the Islanders to Pitcairn
after their disastrous five-months in Tahiti, would be another. Some 20% of the community died within that short
period, mostly from influenza. It was a
horrible and desperate time. Certainly Admiral
of the Fleet, Fairfax Moresby, would need to be included. No one represented the interests of the
Pitcairn people, in London and within the halls of the Colonial Office, more
loyally than the Admiral, particularly during the years leading to the relocation
of the people to Norfolk Island. This
special relationship with the Admiral is reflected, among other things, in the
number of sons named Fairfax or Moresby in his honour, or Fortescue, after one
of his sons, well into the 20th Century. Former Australian Commonwealth Territories
Minister, Robert Ellicott, QC, must also be on this list. He was the principal architect in 1979 of The Norfolk Island Act, which still
forms the basis of the Island’s government.
This thread is not about
politics, but about the bond of trust that formed between two initial foes, Minister
Ellicott and Island farmer, Greg Quintal.
Greg, a sixth-generation descendant of Bounty mutineer, Mathew Quintal, was a member of the Norfolk Island
Advisory Council in the 1970s and a part of the Island’s negotiating team during
a very bitter stage of negotiations between the Council and the Commonwealth regarding
Norfolk’s political future. A
little-known incident occurred between them in 1978 that demonstrates what great
things can happen when people of goodwill meet, even in trying times. One is now 95, the other 87, and their
ensuing friendship continues to this day.
As uncertain as the future of
Norfolk Island might seem today, it was probably more so during the 1970s. All politics aside (and I’ll do my best), after
more than a century of contention regarding the “ownership” of Norfolk – the
Pitcairn Islanders arrived believing Queen Victoria had given them the Island;
the Colonial Office disagreed – a 1976 Royal Commission report initiated by the
Commonwealth, the Nimmo Report, essentially recommended the External Territory
of Norfolk Island be absorbed into the Commonwealth. The Norfolk Council of the day rejected the report
in its entirety. Particularly for
Norfolk Islanders of Pitcairn-descent, a tremendous amount was at stake and emotions ran high. Add to that a couple more years of vitriolic
name-calling and the stage is set for intractable negotiations between the parties
with seemingly no middle ground. Enter Commonwealth
Territories Minister Bob Ellicott and Norfolk Councillor Greg Quintal. The incident, told to me by someone present
and confirmed by both Greg and Ellicott, is as follows:
From the Norfolk Island
perspective, talks were at an all-time low, with time and resources always on
the Commonwealth’s side. At a
particularly frustrating meeting, Greg suddenly begins to sing the hymn, “Praise
God From Whom All Blessings Flow”. This
is what Norfolk Islanders sang on the shoreline in the 1930s as a much-disliked
Administrator finally sailed away from the Island. It’s been considered a protest song amongst
Islanders of that generation ever since, Norfolk’s version of “We Shall
Overcome”, and Greg is singing it now at the negotiating table. It helps that Bob Ellicott turns out to be a
committed Methodist. This is what I
think happened.
Greg’s response was so unusual,
so un-Western-like, that Bob gets the sense that maybe Norfolk is different,
too, and pauses to take a second look.
At that moment, preconceptions disappear and political agendas momentarily
vanish. At that instant, as well, Greg,
Bob and the others in the room start to see each other as people, with families
and histories and equal concerns about the future, rather than merely as opponents.
I don’t believe it was
entirely coincidence that the negotiations seemed to quickly change afterwards. News accounts of the day reveal a genuinely surprising,
sudden turnabout. The controversial
recommendations of the Nimmo Report were shelved by the Commonwealth in favour
of entirely new legislation, The Act,
which rightly or wrongly bestowed on a people about as much self-determination
as most likely could have legally been given.
- Rick Kleiner
Postscript: Some 30 years later, when Greg’s grandson was
holidaying in Australia, he stayed with Bob’s daughter. The Minister and the Farmer.
