The Governor of Pitcairn Island Laura Clarke's first journey to the remote islands

[Applause] [Music] I'm Laura Clark I'm the British High Commissioner to New Zealand and Samoa and the governor of Pitcairn Island Pitcairn is one of the most remote and smallest communities in the world sitting in the Pacific Ocean halfway between New Zealand and Chile it is 36 hours by boat from its nearest island neighbor it is the UK's smallest overseas territory and has 51 inhabitants in May 2018 I made my first journey to pick him my husband took a camera this is our film Pitcairn is a place of legend forever linked with the mutiny on the bounty after overthrowing their captain the mutineers sailed on to find an island where they would never be found and that was pic hem I live with my family in Wellington New Zealand the journey to pick hen is one of the great journeys evolved there is no fast route no shortcut a flight from Wellington to Auckland another to Tahiti a further flight of manga River at the eastern edge of French Polynesia relieving mangareva on the claim war to this is the beginning of a 30 hour journey so we have all night tonight all day tomorrow and then actually the next night and then we actually get to play again so this is the final stage of the journey but a lot of the tourists that we take it around people that have read the book mutiny on the bounty when they've been you know when they're being kids and just had the idea that they wanted to you know go out and see where it all happened so we're on the claim board it's a bit rocky and just looking at the maps of where we've what our journey has been so far and we flew from New Zealand just way off the map the way through to Tahiti Papua T stayed there waiting for our connection and then we flew from there so how which is the military base and airline stop and then from there to Gambier Islands there we go a ferry across to Munger Ava and then we met up with a claymore which is what we're on now and we're currently waking our way to Pitcairn there and we're probably about a third of the way through as the new governor I'm going to pick him to meet its people learn about the opportunities and challenges facing the island and to talk about the future so here we are picking we're not on pick them yet just and it's amazing to see it for the first time to imagine sailing up to it and thinking yeah that looks it looks like home we're waiting now picked up by some of the pick man is on long boats this boat can't document apparently they just push you on to the landing boat you're not allowed to jump to yourself you've got to get the timing exactly right landing on Pitcairn is a revelation what looks inhospitable from the sea becomes lush and fertile houses nestled amongst abundant fruit trees the Seas which form one of the world's largest marine protection areas are teeming with life the land is full of exotic and endemic trees and the skies host pit Cannes wonderful birds Laura welcome to Pitcairn Island Krishnan I'm the East generation of such Krishnan Edward young and my MIDI from from the bounty and yes I have an extended family I'm pickin close to 20 to 28 today the vision and I'm objective is to have people keep it can unpopulated and have a you know thriving and if possible sustainable also in sustainable community on okay there's a number of opportunities exist on paper today like the coffee starting to evolve and in a number of other industries that possible industries that haven't been tapped into here whereas in the past that the primary economy or revenue for picture and while it still exists today it's not enough to cover the running expenses thank you so the hope is within 10 years time that it can be the semi sustainably sustainable again and to be less reliant on UK Angus on financial aid yeah Pitkin has one school and one it currently has three students aged 8 9 in an [Music] and bees Pitkin has one of the most disease-free bee populations in the world and the honey produce on Pitcairn is of an exceptionally high quality hello I might not - Christian I'm an a proced and this is my a pre its nineteen hives small but efficient tell me what what makes Pitkin honey so good well starting with the flavors it's a tropical honey it's it's a cocktail of all the different fruits and sugars on the island it's it's quite a strong mango of flavor to it and that's what first attracts people and then the other one is yeah the other angle is its we're one of the few places if not the only place in the world that's completely be disease-free I wouldn't say people actually make a living out of it there but it's a after us of them government jobs and pay jobs it's the next best source of income right and most families are involved in the industry yes [Music] I have you be the postmaster 1387 right yeah but I might be the sample post pogrom you used to be big well in those days you know we didn't actually depend it on the budget you know we were selling the new steps to take yeah but now you know like I've been here that long but I'm not interested in clanking yeah yeah I guess you know that's a whole world the younger people are interested in something in other things so you don't get the same some people with food desperate to get those Pitcairn stamps probably we have a regular mail service we might get a few more but some of them get a bit discouraged when they know they have to wait three bucks because when I place my postcard today and then will it go past me that will go on the complain morning yeah okay try mine you bring luck he's like yeah say someone come in when the claim was gone domestic violence and Wayne I don't know if you want to talk a bit about your your coffee production oh yeah yeah actually snow where we just started this year really and mainly last year yeah we did did some MA we plant some about four years ago but we didn't follow up right and after all the news came of began said we need your coffee and then I went back and look after the the Oh coffee and we plant some more you're gonna bring something yeah it's for the people to look into it yeah the future too you know you have you know you could put yourself into it yeah make money out of it yeah we did the hill of difficulty and then Jim's ground road and just gone past stinking Apple I think I didn't smell it no then we're heading down some Paul's distant Paul's pool where we're gonna have a swim and this is where you went yesterday down right down right down rope which is apparently less bad than down the god yeah but it definitely doesn't have a rope it needs no rope and where dick fall we're not gonna go to where dick full there's lots of places caused here we are Jonny fall is amazing McCoy's drop that's where McCoy must have fallen off and died a whole load of places where people met their end I think down dougie fall I think this must this must be some of the best not being in the world is so clear that goes so deep suppose that's just volcanic rock and coral winds picking up a bit now ordered supplying it's just amazing brilliant and so snooty hi bye on baby come on darling bounty Bible but it was used by Abdul Aniston to teach them the children after all the muesli is wrong but the amazing thing about it is that he couldn't read a right and it was Edward young that actually taught him how to read which was a good thing you know amazing elegant [Music] well yeah as the administrator I notice government's representative on fit counts and I also work very closely with the with the local government I'm head of the public service here and they also sit on Council and work with them through decisions that need to need to be made right great weariness and it's and it seems to be working really well on on that basis of one of the things that lots of people been raising because the community is now quite small and think it's about 50 in total so including contract itself lots of people are talking about the future and what the future holds because I think back in 1936 it was something like 200 people and the populations getting smaller and smaller what do you think the future holds for pit care I think it's something we actually don't know at the moment and we're in the middle of a piece of work right now to work with the Ireland doesn't with with the British government to determine what the future is going to hold for the pit chemist we hope that will be a positive future because as you said it's a beautiful place it's Olivia who needs the people something special and but working out the options is a big step to take and we're working together on it very closely with the Islanders [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] as I leave Pitcairn Island I'm proud to be its governor with a declining and aging population the island faces many challenges but its people are warm resilient and creative and the island is more beautiful than I ever imagined I hope that together the British government and the people of Pitkin can secure its long-term future the world would be diminished without it [Applause]

Channel: British High Commission Wellington

Views: 253,135

Rating: 4.8361816 out of 5

Keywords: pitcairn, island, travel, adventure, pacific, uk, overseas territory, mangareva, wellington, new zealand, honey, bounty, mutiny on the bounty, small population, remote, stamp collecting, Philately, shaun christian, nicola hebb, tortoise

Id: tTGwcjTfYaM

Length: 14min 7sec (847 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018