Burnt Pine ( Norf'k: ''Ban Pain''Buffett, Alice Inez, ''Speak Norfolk Today: An Encyclopedia of the Norfolk Island language'', Himii Publishing, Norfolk Island, 1999: 25) is the largest town on

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

, an

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n external territory located in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

between

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and

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. It is the main commercial hub of the island, and travel from one side of the island to another generally involves passing through Burnt Pine as the island's sole thoroughfare runs through the town's centre.

Geography

The town is located on a roughly east–west-aligned ridge of volcanic soils, about

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. The headwaters of Cascade Creek and Broken Bridge Creek (northern side) and Watermill Creek (southern side) flow from just below the ridge.Australian Surveying and Land Information Group, ''Map and Visitors Guide'', Ausmap, Department of Administrative Services, Canberra 1992

History

In 1795, First Fleeter Andrew Goodwin was granted a prime sixty-acre lot (lot 64) on Middlegate and Queen Elizabeth Roads Norfolk Island, where he lived with his wife Lydia (Letitia) Munro and his children until 1802. A map of 1844 labels the area 'Sheep Station', and a 1904 map shows the area as large rural holdings.Buffett, Alice Inez, ''Coconuts to Computers: A concise illustrated history of Norfolk Island and its people'', Himii Publishing, Norfolk Island 2004: 9, 224 The impetus for founding the town came in 1942 during the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

, when construction of a military aerodrome began (now the Norfolk Island Airport). This involved the destruction of the

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts ...

-planted Pine Avenue for the east–west runway. Between 1943 and 1944, the Army produced the ''Burnt Pine News'', the first

eponymous An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

use of the place name. By the end of the war, a number of shops and a new hospital had been built around the intersection of Taylors Road and Grassy Road (the original location of the name Burnt Pine), and in 1946, Rawson Hall was built in Taylors Road.Hitch, Gil, ''The Pacific War 1941-1945 and Norfolk Island'', Gilbert Hitch, Norfolk Island 1992 Regular commercial air services from 1946 onwards brought a gradual increase in tourism, and Burnt Pine was well placed on the airport edge for siting new guest houses and shops, such as Holloway's 'Sample Rooms', a tea shop that operated on a rise in Taylors Road known as Holloways Hill. A new hospital was built in 1952 on the Grassy Road corner. The expansion of the town matched the growth of the tourism industry.Nobbs, Raymond, ''Norfolk Island and its Third Settlement: the first hundred years'', Library of Australian History, Sydney 2006: chapter 10 passim Development spread eastwards along Taylors Road: Prentice's

duty-free shop A duty-free shop or store is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, who will ...

opened on Taylors Road in 1953,Howard, Alice, 'Norfolk Living', ''The Norfolk Island News'' 26 March 1980: 36 as did the 'Leeside' store near the New Cascade Road corner. The tourist boom started in the mid-1960s, and as the town spread, the name Burnt Pine followed and now refers to the whole urbanised area.Hoare, Merval, ''Rambler's Guide to Norfolk Island'', Merval Hoare, Norfolk Island 1965/2005: 41

Urban layout

The town has a ribbon development form strung along Taylors Road, with its boundaries marked by cattle grids on Taylors Road, New Cascade Road, Grassy Road, Douglas Drive and Ferny Lane. Central Taylors Road around the intersection with New Cascade Road forms the town's

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

or CBD and contains its major

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

. Shops, cafes, offices, service clubs, several tourist resort complexes and a few residential properties line both sides of the street. The Bicentennial Complex on Taylors Road contains the main public buildings (Visitor Centre, Post Office, Customs & Immigration Offices and Liquor Bond Store), Rawson Hall and the Lions Park sports grounds and oval. Other public buildings are the Norfolk Island Hospital on Grassy Road and the Norfolk Telecom Offices on New Cascade Road. There are no real side streets or blocks below the ridge. Taylors Road merges into Douglas Drive and the Norfolk Island Airport marking the western edge of the town. The town's buildings mainly date from the 1970s and 1980s and are mainly single storied, sitting low in the landscape.

Population

Census population figures are not available for the various districts of Norfolk Island. The population of Burnt Pine was estimated to be in 2007.

Municipal governance

There is no level of municipal governance in Norfolk Island, and the town has no formal boundaries. The Chamber of Commerce provides an avenue for involvement by business people in lobbying the Territory government for improved facilities and maintenance of public spaces. The town has no distinctive emblems or heraldry.

Nearby towns and hamlets

Kingston, the capital of Norfolk Island and main landing place, is about to the south. Middlegate, the site o
Norfolk Island Central School
is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

on the eastern fringe of Burnt Pine. Middlegate's main street is Queen Elizabeth Avenue, running from Taylors Road to the Middlegate Crossroads. The school is located at the crossroads, as is the Bounty Folk Museum, formerly Uncle Joe Jenkins General Store.Buffett, 2004: 169 Several tourist resorts have a Queen Elizabeth Avenue address whereas the main public space is the Queen Victoria Gardens. Cascade, the secondary landing place, with no buildings other than a

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

and

weighbridge A truck scale (US), weighbridge (non-US) or railroad scale is a large set of Weighing scale, scales, usually mounted permanently on a concrete foundation, that is used to weigh entire Railroad car#Freight cars, rail or road vehicles and their co ...

and the ruins of an old whaling station, is about to the north of the town.

Notable sites in Burnt Pine and Middlegate

;Burnt Pine * Norfolk Island Bowling Club 1939 * Rawson Hall 1946 * South Pacific Hotel * Lions Park sports grounds and grandstand 1974 * The Bicentennial Complex 1988 * Bounty Square and ship monument 2000 ;Middlegate * Bounty Folk Museum 1980 * Governor's Lodge Resort 1998 * Fletcher's Mutiny Cyclorama 2002 * Queen Victoria Gardens 2009

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Norfolk Island