The History of Restoration Island

© Mr. Cheyenne Morrison – The Islomaniac ™

Restoration Island or “Resto” as the locals call it is a very beautiful 100 acre volcanic, mainland island surrounded by fringing coral reefs and super-white beaches located in Cape York, 800 kilometers north of Cairns, on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Although the island is small (100 acres) and very remote it has an amazing history, and has hosted many different types of celebrities over the years. Russell Crowe, Errol Flynn and Captain William Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame have all visited the island.

The only resident of the island at present is David Glasheen who is searching a Girl Friday to share his island. To read more about Dave Click Here

Captain William Bligh & The Mutiny on the Bounty



Captain William Bligh, original hand-coloured engraving showing the Bounty Longboat and Tofua Island in the Kingdom of Tonga in the background. Personal collection of Mr. Cheyenne Morrison.

The island’s first European and most famous visitor was the famous Captain Bligh of the Mutiny of the Bounty fame. The mutiny on the Bounty remains one of the best-known stories in the history of seafaring. About being cast adrift in the Bounty’s Longboat by Fletcher Christian, William Bligh managed to sail the tiny craft 4,000 miles over open ocean from Tofua Island in Tonga, to modern-day Indonesia; one of the greatest feats in the annals of maritime history.

After the mutiny Bligh stopped at Restoration Island to restore his crew’s health was in 1789, after a long sea voyage all the way from Tofua Island in Tonga. Restoration Island was their first landfall and rest after a long ocean crossing and getting through the Barrier Reef with no charts. Bligh in best castaway style dug a well for water, made a small fire using the magnifying glass of his sextant, and made a stew of rock oysters and heart-of-palm. In the 1990s Australia’s ‘Bush Tucker Man’, Major Les Hiddens featured the island and showed the foods that Bligh and his men would have found when they were living on the island.

Bligh and his crew stayed on the island from 28-31st of May 1789. Most assume that Bligh named it Restoration because of the rest it provided after the long open water voyage, but in fact he named it as follows …

“This being the Day of the Restoration of King Charles the 2nd, and the name being not inapplicable to my present situation (for it has restored us to fresh life and strength), I named it Restoration Island, for I think it probable Cap.n Cook may not have taken notice of it.”

Lieutenant William Bligh's Voyage in the Bounty's Launch by William Bligh, London 1789

The story of the Mutiny has been the fodder of Hollywood since 1916, and no fewer the 5 versions of the story have been filmed. The amazing thing is that every actor who played Fletcher Christian in film fell in love with Tahiti, and bought their own private islands! Except Clark Gable.

Errol Flynn (1933 version) bought Navy Island, Port Antonio, Jamaica.

Marlon Brando (1962 version) most famously became besotted with Tahiti, he married his co-start Tarita Teripea, fathered Simon Teihotu Brando and Cheyenne Brando and purchase his private atoll of Te’tiaroa. Where The Brando Resort is currently being developed by Richard Bailey.

Mel Gibson who starred in “The Bounty” (1984 version) and bought his own private island of Mago in the Lau Islands of Fiji in 2004.

The Wreck of the Pandora

“H.M.S. Pandora in the act of foundering”. An etching by Lt-Col. Batty, after a sketch by Peter Heywood from “The Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S Bounty'” first edition 1831.

The British Navy’s reaction to the Mutiny on the Bounty was swift, and a little more than a year after the mutiny, the Admiralty Lords commanded Captain Edwards to set sail in search of the mutineers in HMS Pandora. With eight shipmates, Tahitian women, and some Polynesian men, Christian settled on uninhabited Pitcairn Island, a spot so remote that even Polynesian sailors were uncertain as to its whereabouts. His direct descendants live there to this day, along with many on Norfolk Island. They mutineers burnt and scuttled the Bounty a few weeks after arrival, and the wreck was first discovered by the famed national Geographic photographer Luis Marden. In another Hollywood link to the Bounty story Marden was the advisor for the 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando. Brando was fascinated by the story of the mutineers and Pitcairn Island.

But the fame of the story of the Bounty overshadows the equally epic story of the Pandora and 24 other mutineers who were captured in Tahiti, placed in a cage on the deck of the ship, and eventually shipwrecked not far from Restoration Island. On August 29th, 1791, as the Pandora struck a submerged outcrop of coral and began to take water. The Pandora wreck lay undetected in its coral graveyard almost 200 years. Today HMS Pandora is one of the most significant shipwrecks in the Southern Hemisphere, with immense archaeological significance.

The Pandora wreck is located within Pandora Entrance, approximately 5 km to the north-west of Moulter Cay, Latitude 11°22'40"S, Longitude 143°59'35"E, approximately 140 km east of Restoration Island, on the edge of the Coral Sea. To read the full story of the Pandora Click Here

Errol Flynn visits in the Sirocco




Errol Flynn, Captain of the Sirocco, and his crew, on their cruise up the Great Barrier Reef in 1930. To the left is Trelawney Adams, to the right is Rex Long-Innes and the bottom Charlie Burt. Image source and story about this photo Robert Florczak
The island’s next celebrity visitor was 20-year-old Errol Flynn in 1932, who was attracted by the island’s historical connection with Bligh. Flynn described his stay on Restoration Island in his book “Beam Ends”. Flynn and his three mates sailed the leaking yacht Sirocco from Sydney up to Papua New Guinea, gambling, womanising and fighting in each port. Flynn even boasted of smuggling opium from Green Island to Cairns for a Chinese merchant. Flynn’s fascination with Bligh eventually resulted in his first feature film, playing the lead role of Fletcher Christian in the second film version of “Mutiny on the Bounty”. He had been cast in the lead because of his good looks and his educated accent. To watch Errol Flynn in the 1933 version of Mutiny on the Bounty Click Here

In the late 1940s Flynn was sailing the Caribbean on his yacht Zaca when a hurricane blew him ashore on Jamaica. It was love at first sight and Flynn turned the 64 acre (25ha) Navy Island into a resort, and built his private home on a hill overlooking the harbour. The island was also connected to the story of Mutiny on the Bounty. After the mutiny on the Bounty an Admiralty enquiry exonerated Bligh, and he was sent on a second – and this time successful - voyage to collect the breadfruit for the West Indies. On February 5, 1793, Captain Bligh’s ship, The HMS Providence, landed in Jamaica, with a cargo of Breadfruit trees and the were based at Navy Island. Today, the breadfruit tree can be found all over Jamaica and is still used in Caribbean cuisine.
To see more about Errol Flynn's private island Click Here
To buy secondhand copies of "Beam Ends" on viaLibri Click Here

Luke Flynn, Errol Flynn's grandson

In 2009 Errol Flynn’s grandson 34-year-old model/actor Luke Flynn, is planning to shoot “In Like Flynn” which will be loosely based on Flynn’s book “Beam Ends”. The film will depict Flynn’s life before he became and actor, and an internationally renowned celebrity. It will show his adventures as an adventurer, opium smuggler, gambler, street fighter, womanizer, and gold prospector. The film is being produced by independent production company, Wingman Productions in Los Angeles.

Russell Crowe visits on his honeymoon


The 110 foot cruiser M.V. Mustique. Image courtesy of M.V. Mustique
The island’s next celebrity visitor was Russell Crowe and his wife Danielle, who came to the island while on their honeymoon in April 2003.

Russell Crowe and his wife Danielle came to Dave’s island while on their honeymoon. They were travelling up the Great Barrier Reef on an 11 day trip aboard the 110 foot cruiser M.V. Mustique. They stopped at Snapper, Lizard, Morris and Forbes islands, the Escape River, Eborac Island at the tip of Cape York Peninsula finishing at Thursday Island, where the couple attended the Anzac Day dawn service on April 25th.

Crowe had just finished shooting Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander” which he played the role of 18th century Captain Jack Aubrey. He is known for getting into character and did extensive research for his role. So it’s not surprising that he would have wanted to stop at Restoration because of its association with the Mutiny on the Bounty.
The Captain of the Mustique was the former Master of “The Bounty” replica in Sydney Harbour, who met his partner Irene on the boat when she was the Quartermaster/Hostess. This replica was created for the 1984 Dino De Laurentis film “The Bounty” starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins. In October 2007 the ship was sold to HKR International Limited. She is now a tourist attraction at Discovery Bay, on Lantau Island in Hong Kong, and has an additional Chinese name “Chi Ming”.

On the evening of Saturday the 19th of April, the super yacht anchored in front of the beach at Restoration Island. The Captain and his partner Irene came over the island and introduced themselves.

“Hi, I’m David and this is my girlfriend Irene. We have some guests on our ship, can we bring them over for dinner?” asked the Captain.

“You’ve left it a bit late. I don’t have any cold beer, or fresh fish” said Dave.

“Don’t worry. We have a boat full, we will cook for you.” replied the Captain.

"Great! I will get the fire organised” Said Dave.

A short while later the tender for the yacht came over with the Captain, his wife Irene and Russell and Danielle Crowe.

“They were introduced to me simply as Russell and Danielle Crowe who were on their honeymoon.” said Dave. “And it was obvious that they were very much in love.”

While dinner was being prepared they all sat down in front of a fire on the beach. It was a lovely clear night, they all sat on the beach looking at the sunset in the west and watching the stars appear in the crystal-clear skies.

While they were all getting to know one another before dinner Dave asked “I apologise for asking, but I’ve heard your name somewhere before. Are you a tennis player or a golfer?”

Crowe laughed and stated “I’m not much good at either!” but didn’t really tell Dave who he was.

It was only during the course of the dinner that Dave caught references to the movie industry, and he still thought at this stage that Crowe might have just been a movie executive.

After dinner Danielle was keen to finish a book she had been reading, so went back to the yacht with the crew leaving Dave and Crowe alone on the beach. They relaxed and shared a couple of bottles of Bowen Estate red, which was the first bottle of wine Dave had drunk in six months.

“We yarned (told stories) for hours, we talked about my plans for the island, building a marine research centre and small eco-resort, and we discussed the Lockhardt River aboriginal community, the great success of their arts centre, and the exciting future of Cape York and the Torres Straits.”

“He was just an intelligent, unassuming down-to-earth kind of bloke” said Dave.

Crowe was now besotted with Dave’s tranquil and simple life. He explained to Dave that he craved privacy and the island would be an ideal getaway for him. “We discussed how he could get here without being noticed.” Dave now understood that Crowe must have been a celebrity.

“I’d be interested in building a donga (hut) on the island” said Crowe.

Although Dave thought Crowe was a “nice bloke” he didn’t really know him well enough to agree immediately.

“I don’t really know you that well mate” replied Dave “When people live together on an island the chemistry has to be just right.”

Although Dave is looking for a partner to help develop the island (he envisions a marine research centre/eco-resort). He didn’t really say yes or no, he just wanted time to get to know Crowe better, so Crowe accepted this gracefully.

He then asked Dave is he could take a photograph with him. David politely declined stating "My daughters would love to have a photo of you and me together, but isn't that what you came here to escape?"

Crowe smiled and admitted ruefully that Dave was right.

“He asked for my email address, and said that he would and get in contact with me when he had the time.” said Dave.
To read an interview about Dave and his life on Restoration Island Click Here

View from the summit of Restoration looking west across to the mainland. David Glasheen’s house, and the beach hut can clearly be seen. Note the beautiful curving sandbar stretching out from the island, and the superb sheltered anchorage. This was what drew Captain Bligh, Errol Flynn and Russell Crowe to the island.
LINKS

Mutiny on the Bounty 1933

Mutiny on the Bounty 1962

The Bounty 1984

Pitcairn Islands Study Centre

1999 QLD Maritime Museum expedition to the wreck

Queensland Maritime Museum: Pandora

Pandora: an archaeological perspective, By Peter Gesner

Wikipedia article on the Pandora Wreck