Dr VARMAN'S
ACTIVITIES AT THE PIER, KINGSTON
Bounty Day Landing
Every year on June 8 a re-enactment of the landing of the Pitcairn Islanders in 1856 takes place. Norfolk Islanders dress in period costume and a procession is held from the 1830s pier to the cemetery where the old Pitcairners are buried, among them Mary the daughter of Fletcher Christian.
This view was taken in 1986. The treeless Nepean Island may be seen in the background.
Lighters at work 
This is how most of the goods from other lands reach Norfolk Island. The ship anchors in deeper waters and lighters are towed to and fro between ship and the pier by a motor launch. In earlier days, the lighters were rowed back and forth from the ship. This was once the only way visitors could be landed on Norfolk. The helmsmen have to know the precise moment when to negotiate the 'bar' or the lighter could end up on the rocks. Many drowned here during the convict days.
On this day a tourist bus was landed. A large crane was needed to hoist the bus from the lighters (two strapped together).
A very close call
On this day in 1988 the ship began to drift closer and closer to the Pier. Shane Quintal called me from the Museum to take this photograph. The lighterage crew at the end of the Pier decided to walk to a safer distance at the moment this photo was taken.