This is no island of the damned

reel off complex bloodlines right back to the mutineers.

The island is a curious and delightful mix of old and new worlds. Locals stand in the shaded square and chat by the Bounty’s rusting anchor. Under their feet lie (purportedly) the bones of their rebel ancestors.

Their conversation is sprinkled with Pitkern, a lilting 18th century dialect mixed with Creole, English and Tahitian.

Since the swashbuckling days of the mutineers, they have been governed by a quaint tangle of local bylaws. Gossiping comes with a $50 fine. Shouting ‘‘sail ho’’ or carelessly ringing the square’s bell is forbidden. The bell is there to alert islanders to a new ship’s arrival – one of many traditions that hasn’t faded away.

But modern life has encroached on Pitcairn. In the square, you can log on to free WiFi. The islanders are all on Facebook, and run online stores, selling crafts, honey, dried fruit, soap and coffee.

The islanders have struggled to shake off the more shameful parts of their past. Almost every magazine or news article written since the turn of the century mentions the child sex abuse scandal that rocked the island in 1996.

Pitcairn has worked hard to move on, with extensive counselling and reconciliation funded by the British Government. But the world will not let them.

The population has fallen to fewer than 50 and with an ageing workforce is facing an uncertain future. The islanders would like to loosen the shackles of millions of dollars in aid support from Britain, and make their economy more sustainable.

To do that, they need to attract more people: tourists and potential migrants. But after decades of being stigmatised and judged, it’s distressing for the islanders to let outsiders in.

The Sunday Star-Times was granted access after painstaking negotiations – the Pitkerners are understandably mistrustful of journalists. But they treated us with kindness, generosity and were mostly open about the challenges of their off-the-grid lifestyle and insular community.

Enduring the questions of strangers isn’t easy, but the islanders have one eye to the future.

Pitcairn was abandoned once before – when the burgeoning population resettled on Norfolk Island.

Survival has travelled down their bloodlines from the mutineers, and the Pitkerners are determined more generations will inherit their island paradise.

The island is a curious and delightful mix of old and new worlds.