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 capital and main administrative centre of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n external territory of

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 ...

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

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

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

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Geography

Kingston is located on the east–west aligned Kingston Plain which rises from the coast to about above sea level in the foothills 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. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

. The

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, 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 ...

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'') an ...

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 component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

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 west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

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 Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1800 to 1806. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detai ...

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

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

just a few weeks after the establishment of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

colony of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. 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, British

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

and patron of the

First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

. 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 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. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

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 the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

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 or wide road in a commercial district. In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...

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: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

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

Cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

in the northeast. This broad greensward 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, 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 Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

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

Phillip Island Phillip Island (Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The island is named after Arthur Phillip, Governor Arthur P ...

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 T ...

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