[HN Gopher] Pitcairn Island Immigration
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       Pitcairn Island Immigration
        
       Author : janandonly
       Score  : 42 points
       Date   : 2024-04-03 20:57 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.immigration.pn)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.immigration.pn)
        
       | mikestew wrote:
       | I'd probably leave the kids at home:
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Pitcairn_Islands_sexual...
        
         | renewiltord wrote:
         | > _A study of island records confirmed anecdotal evidence that
         | most girls bore their first child between the ages of 12 and
         | 15. "I think the girls were conditioned to accept that it was a
         | man's world and once they turned 12, they were eligible," Tosen
         | said. Mothers and grandmothers were resigned to the situation,
         | telling him that their own childhood experience had been the
         | same; they regarded it as just a part of life on Pitcairn._
         | 
         | > _One councillor told him, "Look, the age of consent has
         | always been 12 and it doesn't hurt them."_
         | 
         | What in the bonkers hell. It seems like the place was just
         | Child Abuse Island (r) (tm). Made their own little cult home.
         | Crazy business.
         | 
         | This bit about how they were not subject to the Crown because
         | they'd mutinied against the HMS Bounty's officers is an even
         | better story. Unbelievable stuff.
         | 
         | Glad they were subject to the law. Though it looks like they're
         | all free now, and presumably back at the noncery.
        
           | hyggetrold wrote:
           | _> It seems like the place was just Child Abuse Island (r)
           | (tm)._
           | 
           | Yep - look at some of Simon Winchester's writing where we
           | goes into more unfortunate detail about this. Pitcairn is not
           | a place you want to go.
        
           | secondcoming wrote:
           | Mexico has some pretty low ages of consent, until recently it
           | was 13 in Japan.
        
           | girvo wrote:
           | > Unbelievable stuff
           | 
           | And silly, as the law (esp. international) usually cares more
           | about de facto control in situations like this. Crazy
           | argument to raise, but I guess if you can't argue they _aren
           | 't_ nonces...
        
           | ryandrake wrote:
           | It's quite possible that the people involved did their time
           | and the island is moving on from the events of the past. It
           | seems uncharitable to paint an entire island with the brush
           | of a single, very bad event that happened years ago. Imagine
           | if every country had to be judged by the worst thing that
           | happened in the country's history.
        
         | barbazoo wrote:
         | I read that too, nice little community they have there
        
         | numbers wrote:
         | holy shit, a third of the island
        
           | rmbyrro wrote:
           | Of the island's male population
        
         | chrissnell wrote:
         | > There are no school age children currently on Pitcairn.
         | 
         | Yeah, I'll pass. Can you imagine how hopeless it must feel for
         | kids here?
        
           | enad wrote:
           | There are no school age children.
        
         | worddepress wrote:
         | Honestly the whole thing looks like volunteering to be in a
         | survival situation. No thanks.
        
         | mjs wrote:
         | 1.
         | 
         | > ... Olive Christian, wife of the accused mayor, daughter of
         | Len Brown and mother of Randy Christian, both of whom were also
         | among those accused, called a meeting of thirteen of the
         | island's women, representing three generations at her home, Big
         | Fence...
         | 
         | 2.
         | 
         | "Live Like a Local When you Stay at Big Fence with Steve &
         | Olive Christian":
         | 
         | https://www.visitpitcairn.pn/accommodation/big-fence
        
       | nsokolsky wrote:
       | I've always wondered why the UK bothers to keep up such a tiny
       | island in the middle of nowhere. Would've been 10x cheaper for
       | the budget to buy the residents 50 houses in Australia and just
       | keep the island as a nature reserve.
        
         | hyggetrold wrote:
         | "What we have, we hold." - British Empire proverb
        
         | erehweb wrote:
         | You never know when these places will be useful. Maybe they'd
         | discover something valuable in territorial waters. It's a cheap
         | lottery ticket.
        
           | gedy wrote:
           | I think it's the closest land to R'lyeh:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%27lyeh
        
         | blackfawn wrote:
         | It keeps the saying "the sun never sets on the British empire"
         | true, iirc.
        
           | s-phi-nl wrote:
           | Mandatory citation of XKCD: https://what-if.xkcd.com/48/
        
         | rodgerd wrote:
         | The further an empire declines, the more desperately it clings
         | to the shreds of a past glory.
         | 
         | See also the constant references to the "blitz spirit" by
         | generations who weren't alive to remember it.
        
         | autoexecbat wrote:
         | Remote islands can be very useful to navies
        
         | reaperducer wrote:
         | Because China will claim it as its territory and set up a
         | military base there before you can count to ten.
         | 
         | Just ask The Philippines.
        
           | nextos wrote:
           | And because it enables claims on resources located in its
           | economic zone and the corresponding seabed.
           | 
           | Take for instance
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Polynesia, tiny islands
           | but _huge_ ocean area with immense resources.
        
           | ryandrake wrote:
           | Seems pretty far for China to care about. Pitcairn Island is
           | roughly the same great circle distance from Beijing as it is
           | from London.
        
         | secondcoming wrote:
         | You might be interested in Rockall [0], a rock in the North
         | Atlantic. It even has a song [1]
         | 
         | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockall
         | 
         | [1] https://youtu.be/AV1MrOPt0pg?si=LGYMHfYJS0bMFF5I&t=1057
        
           | comprev wrote:
           | ... it's rock music then? :)
        
       | nickdothutton wrote:
       | A paradise. It's just the people there...
        
       | bozhark wrote:
       | " Land is granted on a leasehold basis and there is currently no
       | charge. New Migrant Home Land Applications may be made to Island
       | Council at any time within the 2 (non-consecutive permanent
       | residency period. However, a request will not be progressed until
       | such time as the applicant(s) are on-island"
       | 
       | It's 2-years, just a grammar/spelling error. But the open
       | parentheses is aggravating
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Related. Others?
       | 
       |  _Live the Dream, Make the Change, Move to Pitcairn Island
       | (2018)_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28102843 - Aug
       | 2021 (111 comments)
       | 
       |  _Live the Dream, Make the Change, Move to Pitcairn Island_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28098025 - Aug 2021 (1
       | comment)
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14566717 (June 2017 - added
       | to https://news.ycombinator.com/highlights!)
       | 
       |  _Pitcairn Islands_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9116933 - Feb 2015 (1
       | comment)
        
       | runeb wrote:
       | > applications must also attach a police certificate or letter
       | from every jurisdiction in which they have resided in, disclosing
       | whether they have any convictions and the nature of those
       | convictions.
       | 
       | Presumably to prove that you have a criminal record before
       | approval? /s
       | 
       | edit: this was a joke about their mutiny, was unaware of the
       | criminal issues brought up in another comment
        
       | epolanski wrote:
       | I wonder if there are similar opportunities closer to Europe and
       | less remote.
        
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       (page generated 2024-04-03 23:00 UTC)