Kingston, Norfolk Island
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Kingston Norfolk Island |
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Old Military Barracks, now Legislative Assembly Chambers, with Kingston Common in background
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 Kingston
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| Coordinates | 29°3′S 167°58′E / 29.050°S 167.967°ECoordinates: 29°3′S 167°58′E / 29.050°S 167.967°E |
| Established | 6 March 1788 |
| Postcode(s) | 2899 |
| Time zone | NFT (UTC+11) |
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Kingston (Norf'k laengwij Daun a'Taun) is the capital of the Australian South Pacific Territory of Norfolk Island. The vice-regal, legislative, administrative and judicial offices are all located in Kingston. The town is the second-oldest in Australia, and is of great historical and cultural significance to all Norfolk Islanders and other Australians.
Kingston is located on the east-west aligned Kingston Plain which rises from the coast to about 20 m (66 ft) above sea level in the foothills of the Kingston escarpment. The plain is 1.5 km (0.9 mi) long by about 500 m (1,640 ft) 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 60 m (197 ft) 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 and reefs and the broad expanse of Sydney Bay. Eastwards, Cemetery Bay opens directly into the South Pacific Ocean.
The town was founded on 6 March 1788 by Lieutenant Philip Gidley King and 22 settlers (including 9 male and 6 female convicts) who landed that day from HMT Supply. They had sailed from Port Jackson just a few weeks after the establishment of the British colony of New South Wales. 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 and patron of the First Fleet. 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.
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