Marie Bailey never met the grandmother who finally made it ashore on Norfolk Island in 1856 after a gruelling month at sea.
By the time Marie was born on 28 November 1926, by now a second generation Norfolk Islander, her gran had been dead four years.
Yet it’s her grandmother’s impressive migration story – and the story of 193 people who travelled with her from Pitcairn Island to Norfolk – that Marie, now retired, spent a lifetime retelling as one of Norfolk’s earliest tour operators.
Not only is it a family story dear to her heart, says Marie, during my three-day hosted tour of Norfolk, it’s also a story that gives outsiders a window into the latest chapter of Norfolk Island’s rich social history.
