Norfolk Island whodunit: Queen Victoria’s gift snatched from vault

A priceless historical artefact, a mystery museum heist and a federal police investigation has gripped Norfolk Island.

Norfolk Island Museum on Quality Row where the Great Imperial Seal was snatched. ​

A museum heist has baffled police and set tongues wagging among Norfolk Island’s 1700 residents after one its most treasured ­objects vanished from a temperature-controlled vault last week.

The Great Imperial Seal – ­gifted to Norfolk Island by Queen Victoria in 1856 as a symbol of its self-determination and independence – was discovered missing last Friday when museum staff opened the safe for researchers.

The ornate ivory-handled seal, forged by the celebrated royal ­engraver Benjamin Wyon, was presented to the island three years after its penal colony was closed. Norfolk Island Museum Trust chair Rhonda Griffiths described the seal as “a piece of iconography” central to the identity of the island and its links to descendants of British naval officer Fletcher Christian and other mutineers who commandeered HMS ­Bounty in 1789.

Norfolk Island Great Imperial Seal inside wood casing. Picture: Norfolk Island Museum Trust

The theft, which occurred ­inside the museum’s research centre, has enraged locals and sparked an investigation by commonwealth officers, with ­museum still unclear how the artefact was stolen.

“When we first opened the box and saw that it was empty it made us sick to the belly. But over the last couple of days that has turned to anger,” Ms Griffiths said.

“It’s like cutting an arm off, like stealing part of our identity.”

Investigators are now preparing to conduct interviews with everyone who had access to the trust’s collection.

Ms Griffith said residents had grown frustrated with the ­museum after its administration shifted from the Norfolk Island community to the commonwealth in 2015, when self-government was abolished.

“I think the person who took it was angry about this change … they don’t like the idea it belongs to the commonwealth and not the Island,” she said. “The person or persons who stole it would absolutely have known its significance.”

Local historian Arthur Evans said the theft was a “major blow to the island’s culture”, adding that no other historical item was as important to its history. “The imagery of the Imperial Seal is used as an emblem for the island, and it’s a symbol just as iconic as the Norfolk pine. It’s part of the reason it was taken off ­display and kept safely under lock and key,” Mr Evans said. “I can’t imagine anyone from the island took it. That would just be ­ludicrous.”

James Noble, a leading numismatics expert and valuer, said it would be difficult to value because of its historical significance.

“It’s a very beautiful and important piece that looks similar to a medallion. The detailing, with the Norfolk pines and the arriving descendants of the mutineers, is very distinctive,” Mr Noble said.

“The fact that it’s made by Benjamin Wyon is significant and demonstrates a particular period in the history of the British Empire and of Norfolk Island.”