September 30, 2004

Pitcairn Island

Strange happenings on a remote island... As reported by the Globe and Mail: bq. Rape trial grips Pitcairn Island Half the adult male population of Pitcairn Island goes on trial today, the seven men facing prison sentences in a jail that they helped build. bq. The sex-related charges have torn apart a community that is almost inconceivably small and isolated. Four families, or 47 people, share an island that is one-third the size of Washington, D.C., and has no hospital, cars, air strip or navigable harbour. The easiest way to get there is a 36-hour boat trip from French Polynesia. bq. The families bear one of four surnames -- Christian, Young, Warren and Brown -- handed down by the mutineers of HMS Bounty, from whom the islanders are descended. And more: bq. Yesterday, a group of 13 Pitcairn women called a press conference to support the accused and to suggest that sex with adolescents is part of Pitcairn's history, and that such consensual acts were common. They sought to refute the idea that islanders preyed on young women and girls over a period of decades. bq. Carol Warren said during the press conference on the island that she had had sex with Pitcairn men from the age of 12. "I was a wild one, then, and I wanted it. You can't blame the men. We know better now, and I would never recommend that for girls now, but it was the way then." bq. Yet another woman expressed a commonly held island view that the British are using the trial as a way to shut down the costly colony for good. "They would love us to just go away because we are asking for more things and costing more," Tania Christian said. bq. The women worry that if the seven accused are locked up, life on Pitcairn would become impossible: The island has no harbour, so the men are required to sail longboats through treacherous waters to receive supplies from, and trade with, passing ships. Pitcairn is often called the world's most remote inhabited place. I remember growing up and reading articles about Pitcairn Island in National Geographic -- always seemed like a fascinating place to visit. I guess that social pressures made it more like the island in Lord of the Flies. To quote Piggy: "We did everything the way grown ups would've. Why didn't it work?" Posted by DaveH at September 30, 2004 11:36 PM