Norfolk Island in the South Pacific is most notorious for it’s brutal penal settlement history. Perhaps because nearby Australia is so familiar with it’s own convict history, or perhaps because so many of the ruins of that period remain. However, the island really has five histories, and each has contributed culturally to Norfolk Island as it is today. Polynesian settlement Norfolk Island was originally settled by the Polynesians and the remains of a Polynesian settlement were excavated in the mid 1990s near Emily Bay revealing a house, a paved area, stone artefacts, shell and bone tools. Banana plantations were also discovered. Dating their time on the island has not been…