View of Cascade Jetty, the old Whaling Station and Forrester Court above cliff.

location

• The island lies on the Norfolk Ridge which runs from New Zealand to New Caledonia.
• 1770 kilometres NE of Sydney.
• 1448 kilometres east of Brisbane
• 1126 kilometres NW of Auckland
• 804 kilometres SSE of Noumea

Watch the whales frolic in the Bay.

Forrester Court is positioned above the Old whaling station at Cascade Bay.

In days gone by Norfolk island and other South Pacific people harvested food and materials from whales that occasionally stranded on their shores.

This kind of low-impact 'whaling' changed in the early 1800s, when ships from Europe and America came to hunt the bonanza of whales in Pacific waters. Shore-based whaling stations were soon established. Today the attitude to whaling has changed from general support to active opposition.

Many relics and traditions from this past can still be found across the island. The Norfolk Island celebration of Thanks Giving can be traced back to those American Whalers.

Today the whales have returned and can be seen at Forrester Court from the bench positioned under the shade of the old White Oak trees ... these majestic Oaks are over 200 yrs old.