A new Stuff special feature on Pitcairn Island has been launched. Here's a Stuff Nation article from 2018 about the remote Pacific island.

In December I received an email inviting me to visit Pitcairn Island to advise the islanders on establishing an astro-tourism venture.

My visit would be over 11 days in February and would entail giving advice on the hardware needed (telescopes, binoculars etc), recommending a good observing site, making measurements of the darkness of the night-sky, giving a course of tutorials for islanders interested in becoming night-sky guides, and discussing a lighting ordinance for the Pitcairn Islands government to adopt, in order to protect the night sky in the future.

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I also discussed future marketing of Pitcairn astronomy tours and other logistical requirements.

It took just five minutes to accept the invitation, and I spent the next two months reading up on the history of the mutiny on the Bounty by Fletcher Christian in 1789 that led to the settlement on Pitcairn in January 1790 by nine Bounty mutineers.

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JOHN HEARNSHAW Arrival of the long boat to the Claymore II.

They were accompanied by six Polynesian men and 12 Polynesian women, mainly from Tahiti. Today the population of Pitcairn is just 45, and nearly all these people are direct descendants from the original mutineers.

It is not easy to travel to Pitcairn Island. It is one of the world's most remote inhabited islands, lying over 2300km east of Tahiti and 6500km west of northern Chile. To the north and to the south there is no land, other than Pitcairn, between British Columbia and Antarctica.

To get there takes four days of travel from New Zealand: one day to reach Tahiti and then on day two another long flight to the French Gambier Islands 1650km further east.

JOHN HEARNSHAW Adamstown as seen from Christian's Cave. The Claymore II is anchored off-shore.

From Mangareva in the Gambier Islands I boarded the Claymore II, a small cargo-passenger vessel that takes up to a dozen passengers for the 700km sea voyage to Pitcairn. The Claymore takes about 32 hours to reach Pitcairn, a journey over two nights and one full day. About half the passengers were sea-sick on my voyage, but I managed to avoid that fate.

The arrival at Pitcairn in the early hours of February 15 was memorable; the dark silhouette of Pitcairn, a great volcanic rock just 3.5km long and surrounded by precipitous cliffs, was visible in the gloom. We had dropped anchor about a kilometre offshore. As dawn broke we could see the beautiful lush vegetation and at 8am the long boat was launched from the Landing to pick up passengers and cargo.

Setting foot on Pitcairn and being greeted by the islanders, most of whom were on the Landing to meet us, was a special moment.

JOHN HEARNSHAW The Landing.

There are no hotels on Pitcairn. The island's tourism coordinator, Heather Menzies, had arranged for me to stay with two families during my stay, first with Charlene and Vaine Warren-Peu and their three children, and secondly with Steve and Olive Christian.

Both were incredibly hospitable and welcoming. From the Landing, we rode on quad bikes to the accommodation, up the steep Hill of Difficulty, clinging on to the back of a bike as we ascended on steep and bumpy tracks.

It was a great time to visit Pitcairn. The French naval vessel Arago visited for my first weekend on the island, and this entails entertaining the 32 visiting mariners with community-wide meals which involve everyone on Pitcairn.

JOHN HEARNSHAW Ascending the Hill of Difficulty from the Landing.

In addition, the Pitcairn deputy governor, Robin Shackell, who is from the British High Commission in Auckland, came for a four-day visit a week later, and this required more community engagement.

As for the stargazing, I gave seven talks in the public hall, mainly to a group of seven islanders who expressed interest in the stars and in becoming night-sky guides. We dubbed the course Stargazing 101, and declared it to be the inaugural course of the new Pitcairn University.

We also did some stargazing and measured the darkness of the night sky, and found it to be comparable to the darkest sites in the world. stargazing was from a site at the top of the island known as the Taro Ground near the Radio Station – an ideal site with unobstructed views in most directions.

JOHN HEARNSHAW Kerry Young star-gazing at the Taro Ground.

Power on Pitcairn is switched off at 10pm every day; there are half a dozen streetlights, but these are only illuminated until the power is cut.

From 10pm to 6am the island is in complete darkness.

Pitcairn is a remarkably self-contained and self-sufficient community. They grow all the fruit and vegetables they need, and in fact so much food is grown that most goes to waste. The fruit (including passion fruit, mangoes, bananas, pineapples, pawpaw) is in copious abundance. Most meat is imported from New Zealand, although chickens and goats are the livestock providing some meat products. Fish are in great abundance, and it is normal to catch 40 or 50 in a couple of hours on any fishing expedition.

JOHN HEARNSHAW Steve and Olive Christian at home with their grand-daughter Adriana.

Life on Pitcairn has evolved dramatically for the better in recent years, thanks to the internet, a telephone service linked to the Auckland exchange, and one satellite TV channel from Australia. The medical centre is exceptionally well-equipped. There is a resident doctor and nurse, a school teacher, a police constable (from New Zealand) and a social worker.

However huge problems remain. The main one is under-population, and an ageing workforce. Young people have left for brighter opportunities in New Zealand or elsewhere and many will not return. There are very few islanders under 40 on Pitcairn now, and just three children are of primary school age.

When it was time to leave Pitcairn, I said goodbye to my new friends at the end of the world with great sadness. I had made friends with most people in this tight-knit community, and these friendships will last a lifetime.

JOHN HEARNSHAW Welcoming party at the Landing to greet the arrival of the long boat.

Pitcairn is a unique, thriving but isolated community, struggling to survive into the 21st century, and to preserve their unique society, steeped in Bounty history and largely shaped by their isolation and remoteness.

Those who make the effort to travel to Pitcairn will have an experience they will never forget and which they can probably not find anywhere else in the world.

JOHN HEARNSHAW Community meal in the Square.