It could hardly be more appropriate that the island's most emblematic creature should be a bird that can't fly. Few of its human counterparts ever seem to leave. Jack Shick is a fifth-generation islander. He was christened Jack but is known as Jackson, which must make him the only Australian with a nickname longer than his given name. His great-great-grandfather Nathan Thompson was an American whaler, born in Massachusetts, who settled on the island in 1853 with his Polynesian wife. Their original house is still standing. Now 49, Jackson grew up without telephone, never mind television or computers. 'My earliest memory?' he repeated. 'Freedom. We just spent our days outside until Mum called us to come in.'