Norfolk Island: Hands Up for Democracy Mural
The Hands Up for Democracy mural highlights the push of local Norfolk Islanders for self-determination and self-rule and anti-Australian sentiments. In 1855, Queen Victoria granted Norfolk Island to the Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the infamous Bounty Mutiny. A year later, 163 men, women, and children settled in Norfolk. A former British penal colony. Britain transferred Norfolk Island to Australia in 1914, and In 1979, it became Australia’s first non-mainland territory to be granted limited self-rule. This self-rule proved disastrous as the local self-governing economic whizzes mismanaged everything and bankrupted the island in the 2007 economic crisis, with Australia coming with a bailout and also abolishing the self-rule. In 2015, Australia abolished the last remaining self-rule item – the local legislative assembly, making Norfolk completely a function of decisions in Canberra (all the local residents now are part of the Canberra election district and are supposed to vote there). All this didn’t sit well with locals and the self-determination movement has been brewing and simmering since. Supposedly 90% of locals have added their hands to the Hands up for Democracy mural.
