PITCAIRN ISLAND, a British Overseas Territory that is home to just 48 people, has passed a law allowing same-sex marriage — but has no gay couples.

Meralda Warren, one of the inhabitants of the Pacific island, which measures two square miles, said there was once an islander who had identified as gay – but that was a long time ago.

She added that any gay couples wanting to marry might anyway encounter difficulties, as the island’s only preacher was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a denomination that opposes gay marriage.

“It’s not Pitcairn Islanders that were pushing for it,” she said. “But it’s like anything else in the world. It’s happening everywhere else, so why not?”

Kevin Lynch, the deputy governor of Pitcairn, said the change was suggested by British authorities after England, Wales and Scotland legalised same-sex marriage last year. It was then unanimously approved by the local council.

First settled in 1790, Pitcairn Islanders are descended from the mutineers of the Bounty, and their Tahitian companions.

The island, 3,000 miles off the coast of New Zealand, was tarnished by a child abuse scandal in 2004, when six men were imprisoned for sexual offences.

Since then, the Pitkerners have been sustained by government aid as their population has shrunk. A campaign to attract more residents has received little interest.

Some islanders were hopeful that the change in law could see people return.

“I could imagine some couples from off the island might find it a romantic destination, including Australians who can’t marry in their own country,” said Rodney Croome, the national director of the same-sex advocacy group Australian Marriage Equality.