Creator

Francis-Russell Nixon

Published

London: The House of Commons, 1847

Description

This British Parliamentary Paper reproduces a report by a Mr Stuart Pringle on prison discipline as applied to Van Diemen’s Land and Norfolk Island, having been forwarded by Francis Russell Nixon, the first Anglican Bishop of Tasmania. The text of the Report highlights the incidence of homosexuality on Norfolk Island, “a subject so revolting, so abhorrent to all our social and Christian feelings”, Nixon notes: “in the comparatively small society of Norfolk Island, upwards of 100, perhaps 150 couples can be pointed our who habitually associate for this most detestable intercourse, and that moral perception is so completely absorbed, that they are said to be ‘married’.” This British Parliamentary Paper is the oldest printed item held by the Archives.