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Comment by doublec | Hacker News Reader

I am of Pitcairn descent. My grandmother was born there. I'm a descendant of the mutineers Fletcher Christian, John Mills and Edward Young, and the Tahitian women who went there, Mauatua, Vahineatua, To'ofaiti and Teraura.

I've been to the island and I'm active in the Pitcairn community here in New Zealand. The island is a vibrant community of people working. When I was there they were very warm and welcoming. The island itself is small but with mountainous areas and there is much to see and do. The vibe on the island is very similar to any small rural town in New Zealand.

I have photos of the trip if anyone is interested http://cd.pn/pn2012/

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Your family history is a fascinating one!

Did any of your family take Queen Victoria's offer and move to Norfolk Island when things got rough on Pitcairn 165 years ago?

https://www.discovernorfolkisland.com/norfolk/pitcairn.html

Yes, everyone on Pitcairn migrated to Norfolk. Later some families moved back to Pitcairn, including mine. The same thing happened in 1831 - everyone migrated to Tahiti. That was disastrous for the islanders though, many died of disease and they returned to Pitcairn eventually. See here for that story http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_68_1959/Volum...

Thank you for the link, this was a very interesting read.

It is truly amazing that this extremely remote island can actually be explored via Google street view: https://goo.gl/maps/Jq2nguTrabm84sKB8

Yes! I remember seeing photos of the person doing the google photography. Especially going down an area called "Down Rope" where some pre-european petroglyphs are. You basically have to cling to the side of a rock wall down the cliff to get there - dangerous and tiring! It's safe as long as you stick to the trail, and helpful to have a guide, but sometimes things go wrong https://jimmyaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2010/09/life-and-de...

That's a fantastic link - thanks for sharing!

Can you answer more questions about the state of the infrastructure there like electricity and internet? On Wikipedia it says there's only one person in charge of the electricity and it goes off every night.

When I was there the power operated until 10pm at night. From that time homes would either run from personal generators, or batteries - to power refrigerators, lights, routers, etc. These days the homes have or are getting solar panels.

Internet was terrible at the time. I wrote about it here: https://bluishcoder.co.nz/2012/05/29/pitcairn-island-and-slo...

It has improved but is still relatively slow and expensive.

Starlink seems perfect for this island.

Absolutely! The cost might be prohibitive for the Pitcairners salary though.

I suspect that price will be adjusted depending on target market.

Won’t cost spacex anything to provide Internet to tiny islands like this

Yep. They will charge much more in such remote areas with almost no competition.

Except that in non-remote areas, there will be greater demand per area, and stations per area is the limiting factor. So I'm not sure they'd charge more in really isolated places than in places with higher density and bad service.

Can you just use one dish and then connect everyone to this one dish? Costs 100$ a month divided by all inhabitants. It makes sense to setup one dish and connect a couple of people to it. It does not make sense to setup one dish next to another.

Remote areas = Mostly people, that can't actually afford it.

Does Starlink support this or is it against their interest?

Will be great once they get the laser links working.

Those photos are great! Thanks for sharing.

What is the male to female ratio on the island?

Do you happen to know why the wind turbine project didn't work out? It seems electricity currently comes from diesel generators, and there was a plan to get a wind turbine installed, but somehow it wasn't delivered?

My understanding is the UK government cancelled the scheme after the contractors failed to meet their deliverable dates and the costs ballooned. Effort is now going into solar power instead, with some houses already having panels installed.

How do people earn money in such a small economy?

There are government jobs - administration, post office, local council, maintenance of roads, buildings, etc. They make and sell crafts, honey, coffee, etc online and to cruise ships. The latter has taken a hit due to borders being closed during covid. See Pipco for an example https://www.pipco.pn

Some of the islanders have small businesses - one runs a Pizza place with regular pizza nights.

Costs of living are low due to growing and catching your own food.

So the economy is mostly tourist based? Are there taxes?

Yes, mostly tourist based. There are no taxes.

Overseas remittances from family members in New Zealand and Australia play a big part in the economy. Also, Pitcairn Island used to have a stamp bureau selling stamps to overseas collectors.

More to the point, if the island is remote, and relatively self-sustaining, it seems like an alternative to New Zealand for those looking for a bolthole in the event of ecological or societal collapse. Jobs and income might not be the focus for people looking for this.

the picture of the girl lying in the tall grass is beautiful.

Great photos! What is the weather there during the year? While I was visiting New Zealand I found out that weather can quickly change, and kiwi told me it is usual thing they even have a song "4 seasons in one day"...

It's usually pretty warm, 20-ish celcius. It got cold when I was there when a storm was passing through, dropping to about 12 celcius. It can get stormy but for the month I was there it was mostly sunshine with short showers. I'm not sure how different the rest of the year is though - I was there for April/May.

I was about to tag you on facebook about this being on HN! :)

Haha, thanks! I was surprised to see Pitcairn on HN.

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

Do you know if kava and taro grow there?

Taro grows, there's even an area called "Taro Ground". I'm a fan of kava and I know Tahiti has a kava tradition. I asked one of my cousins about kava on the island and they don't know of it growing there. Given that the island was populated previously by Polynesians it's possible there is wild kava growing there somewhere. Next time I go I'm keen to look out for it. It would be interesting to try and cultivate it and make it a crop for sale in the same way Honey, Coffee, etc has become a popular export item.

I just want to say that HN continues to surprise and amaze me. An article about pitcairn is upvoted (amazing enough in itself) and then we get a decendent of the original mutineers chime in and offers to contact their cousins on the island for specific answers.

That's great to hear. Yes, both those crops were "canoe plants" that Polynesians took with them wherever they went.

Kava doesn't seed so has trouble growing in the wild unless conditions are perfect, in which case ancient stands of them might still be alive. In Hawaii, long after the missionaries tried to eradicate kava, some of the old cultivars were rediscovered in the 90's from old kava stands found growing deep in national park forests.

But yes if you did find kava growing there, it would be a rare cultivar and given its long shelf-life once dried and packaged, a great crop to commercialise on that island.

It sounds like a place filled with nature's bounty.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

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