Kingston ( Norf'k: ''Daun a'Taun''Buffett, Alice Inez, ''Speak Norfolk Today: An Encyclopedia of the Norfolk Island language'', Himii Publishing, Norfolk Island 1999: 24) is the administrative centre of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

n external territory of

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together wit ...

. The Norfolk Island Regional Council is based in Kingston. The settlement is the second-oldest in Australia, founded a little over a month after

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

. It is part of the Kingston and Arthur's Vale Historic Area

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

site.

Geography

Kingston is located on the east–west aligned Kingston Plain which rises from the coast to about above sea level in the

foothill Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

s of the Kingston

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

. The

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

is long by about wide, with calcareous lime sands to the south along the coast and basaltic clays to the north along the foothills. The western end of the plain is marked by the high Flagstaff Hill. Watermill Creek traverses the plain after leaving Arthur's Vale to the north-west, and is joined by Town Creek and several minor tributaries to form the Kingston swamps before draining into Emily Bay. Most of the accessible beaches on the island are located along the Kingston foreshores. Southwards, Emily Bay and Slaughter Bay open into the Kingston

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...

and

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes—deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock ...

s and the broad expanse of Sydney Bay. Eastwards, Cemetery Bay opens directly into the

South Pacific Ocean South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

History

The town was founded on 6 March 1788 by Lieutenant

Philip Gidley King Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a British politician who was the third Governor of New South Wales. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detailed to colonise Norfolk Island for defence ...

and 22 settlers (including 9 male and 6 female convicts) who landed that day from ''HMS Supply''. They had sailed from

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman S ...

just a few weeks after the establishment of the British colony of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. The settlement was initially known as Sidney or Sydney Bay, and by 1796 was being called the Town of Sydney, in honour of

Viscount Sydney Viscount Sydney (an alternative spelling of the surname Sidney) is a title that has been created twice. The title was elevated twice from a barony, and once into an earldom. First creation (1689) The first creation came on 9 April 1689 when H ...

, British

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...

and patron of the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command o ...

. King established a house on the hill over the town, but the mass of roots in the ground caused him to call it "rooty hill", which name was also later transferred to

Rooty Hill, New South Wales Rooty Hill is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Rooty Hill is located 42 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and is part of the Greater West ...

when King later established a house there.

Urban form

The

old town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

dating from 1788 occupies several winding irregular lanes at the head of Kingston Pier. The modern town, as laid out by the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

during the 1830s, consists of a Roman-style

grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...

. There are two long east west roads: Bay Street along the foreshore and Quality Row, the town's principal thoroughfare, along the foothills. These two

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

s are connected by short cross streets of Pier Street, Bounty Street, and the former Bligh Street (now part of the drive to Government House). Stone bridges carry these streets across Watermill Creek. Four roads wind upcountry from the edges of the grid: Country Road, Middlegate Road, Rooty Hill Road, and Driver Christian Road. All the buildings are located either in the

or along the Quality Row, with the exception of Government House which is located on a small knoll called Dove's Plot Hill. The middle and west of the plain forms the Kingston

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally ...

and Kingston Recreation Ground, with the golf links occupying the eastern end, and Kingston

Cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a bu ...

in the northeast. This broad

greensward A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natural ...

with the Kingston

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

in its centre separates the two long boulevards.

Municipal governance

Municipal government functions on Norfolk Island are the responsibility of the Norfolk Island Regional Council, based in the New Military Barracks in Kingston.

Nearby towns and hamlets

The town of

Burnt Pine 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 (in the Pacific Ocean located between ...

, the main commercial and population centre of the island, is about to the northwest, and the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Middlegate is about to the north. The uninhabited Nepean Island and

Phillip Island Phillip Island ( Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explore ...

are prominent in the sea view from Kingston.

Notable sites in Kingston and nearby

Causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tr ...

to '' HMS Sirius'' wrecksite, 1790 (exposed at low tide) * Marine Barracks 1792, now Civil Hospital ruins 1831 * Swamp Canal 1795 * Stone building 1796, now the Guardhouse 1826 * Government House 1804 * Piper's Boatshed 1808, now the Double Boatshed 1826 * Kingston Cemetery 1825 * Commissariat Granary 1827, now the Crankmill ruin * Prisoner's Barracks 1829, now the Compound 1960s * The Officer's Bath 1832 * Old Military Barracks 1832, home of the Legislative Assembly 1979-2005 * Bounty Street Bridge 1832 * Pier Street Bridge 1834 * Commissariat Store 1835, now All Saints Church 1874 * New Military Barracks 1836, now the Administration Offices 1926 * Kingston Pier 1839 * New Gaol ruins 1847 * Salt House ruins 1848 * Royal Engineer's Office 1851, now REO Cafe 1984 * Queen Elizabeth Lookout 1974 * Kingston Common * Emily Bay * Slaughter Bay * Cemetery Bay * Lone Pine and Point Hunter * Flagstaff Hill * Arthur's ValeSmith, Nan, ''Convict Kingston: a guide'', Nan Smith, Norfolk Island 1997

Gallery

File:Norfolk Island jetty2.jpg, Kingston Pier, with launch towing a lighter with cargo from ship moored off-shore File:Norfolk Island Kingston.jpg, Old lighters at the Kingston boatsheds File:Norfolk Island jetty.jpg, Crane on Kingston Pier unloading cargo from a lighter

References

External links

Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area
{{Authority control Populated places in Norfolk Island Capitals in Oceania Populated places established in 1788 1788 establishments in Australia