Few people are more isolated than Pitcairners but their world may be about to shrink, writes EUGENE BINGHAM.
Within the walls of an exclusive New Zealand club, a plan has been hatched to develop one of the world's last remaining outposts, the Pitcairn Islands.
Six wealthy timber merchants and a tax judge have set up a business at an old Wellington businessman's club, The Wellesley, to establish tourism on the South Pacific islands settled by the mutineers of the Bounty in 1790.
The proposal would end the 46 islanders' virtual isolation in the remote south Pacific, 5300km east of New Zealand.
The inhabitants rely on about three mail deliveries a year, passing ships, a satellite link and ham radio for contact with outsiders.
The Wellesley plan would hook them into the world via a regular air service and better communications.
The men want to invest up to $50 million, constructing the islands' first landing strips and at least two lodgings.
These developments worry conservationists, who believe they will destroy the islands' environment.
At stake for the consortium is not only the hope of financial return but also the lure of adventure and connecting with the Pitcairns' history - a heritage that has inspired five movies featuring such Hollywood stars as Mel Gibson, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Errol Flynn.
Those leading men played Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutineers who overthrew Captain William Bligh during the Bounty's return journey to Britain from the South Pacific.
Just how much the Pitcairns' history has inspired Wellesley Pacific's thinking is unclear - the company's directors are publicity-shy and have refused to comment.
Their backgrounds give few clues to their motivation. Until February when three of them went to talk to the islanders, none had been there.
A proposal document obtained by the Weekend Herald lists the company's chairman as Judge Anthony Willy of the Taxation Review Authority in Wellington. Company Office records list him as a director along with four timber industry figures.
The company's registered office at The Wellesley in Wellington is being run by another director, Wayne Coffey, executive director of the Timber Industry Federation.
Mr Coffey said he did not want to discuss the project this week.
But the Weekend Herald has learned Mr Coffey led the scouting mission when the company put an initial version of its plan to the Pitcairns, the last British colony in the Pacific.
It proposed development beyond tourism - the company also sought rights to the 200-mile fishing zone as well as independence in five years, and British and Pitcairn citizenship for up to 30 of its shareholders and directors.
But the Pitcairns deputy governor, Karen Wolstenholme of the British High Commission in Wellington, said yesterday the proposal had been scaled back.
The British had told the company citizenship would be available only through the usual legal channels and the islanders had said they were not interested in independence in the short term, Mrs Wolstenholme said.
The fisheries proposal had been rejected too.
"Their original discussion document was a huge undertaking which clearly wouldn't have been sensible for the island, but I think there is certainly potential."
Last month, the island council passed a resolution empowering the British to begin negotiations with Wellesley Pacific.
It is understood the revised plans include an airport on Oeno Island - one of four islands in the Pitcairns - an airstrip on Pitcairn and accommodation for up to 30 tourists at a time.
The islanders realise it will entail a huge change for their society. At present, they receive only a handful of tourists a year. There is no regular shipping service.
Mrs Wolstenholme said the islanders understood it would reduce their isolation.
What they wanted was economic relief.
Professor Herbert Ford of the US-based Pitcairn Islands Study Centre said the islands had endured hardship since subsidies were reduced several years ago and the world stamp market began to slump with declining interest in collecting.
Much of the foreign currency comes from the sale of Pitcairns stamps through the Auckland-based Pitcairn Island Philatelic Bureau.
Professor Ford said the islands were also suffering because of depopulation - numbers had slid from a peak of about 200 in the 1930s.
"This [Wellesley] plan promises great things, but you always hold back in enthusiasm for such a promise."
Cambridge University zoologist and recognised Pitcairns specialist Dr Michael Brooke told the Observer newspaper: "I am very concerned about the impact of the airstrips on the wonderfully pristine lagoons.
"I'm concerned the increased traffic will bring alien plants and animals."
Kiwi company unveils plan for tiny outpost
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