Department of Environmental and Geosciences
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11875/2247
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item "Flying Through History: Aircraft Encounters and Pitcairn Island"; Abstract(The 2024 IBII International Conferences Program, 2024-03-28) Solomon, Mason; Albert, Donald PatrickDescription of a session presented by Donald Albert and Mason Solomon at the 2024 International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies.Item "John Buffett’s Diary Entries While “Visiting” Pitcairn 1868 to 1872"; Abstract(The 2024 IBII International Conferences Program, 2024-03-28) Albert, Donald PatrickDescription of a session presented by Donald Albert at the 2024 International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies.Item PISG Member Awarded 2024 Fellowship with the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia(2024-04) Albert, Donald PatrickThis is a description of a 2024 RGSSA Library Fellowship Award in Adelaide, Australia, to PISG member Donald Albert.Item John Buffett's Diary Entries While Visiting Pitcairn(2024-04) Albert, Donald PatrickJohn Buffett was the first immigrant to settle among the descendants of HMAV Bounty mutineers and their Polynesian wives on Pitcairn Island in 1823. Originally from England (b. July 16, 1797, d. May 5, 1891), he became the island’s schoolmaster and diarist of the Pitcairn Island Register (Lucas 1929).Item PISG Members Promote Pitcairn Research and Memorabilia(The Pitcairn Log, 2024-01) Albert, Donald PatrickPitcairn Islands Study Group members Mason Solomon and Don Albert, together with Susan Elkins promoted the Pitcairn Islands Research Station on September 26, 2023, at the Scholarly Innovation Research Fair. The Office of Research & Sponsored Programs of Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, organized this campus-wide event. Mr. Mason (left) is an undergraduate history major, Dr. Elkins (not shown) is the Head of Digital Initiatives, Newton Gresham Library, and Dr. Albert (right) is a professor of geography in the Department of Environmental and Geosciences, all from Sam Houston State University.Item Pitcairn and Norfolk Islander John Buffett, Sr., subject of publication(The Pitcairn Log, 2024-01) Albert, Donlad PatrickThe Pennsylvania Geographer (PG) published an article about Pitcairn and Norfolk Islander, John Buffett, in its 2023 Spring/Summer issue (60)1: 15-34. Since the PG is an open-source journal, the article is available without charge. The abstract is available here with the full article downloadable from the Pitcairn Islands Research Station .Item John Buffett and Time-space Compression: A 19th Century Adventure(Pennsylvania Geographer, 2023) Albert, Donald PatrickJohn Buffett was a fascinating individual who was able to crisscross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans over seven decades in the 1800s with little financial resources. Buffett’s main claim to fame is as Pitcairn Island’s first immigrant in 1823 to the settlement established there by HMAV Bounty mutineers and their Polynesian companions. This study examines Buffett’s oceanic peregrinations beginning in 1815 and ending in 1872. Primary sources from Buffett, and images and distance measurements from Google Earth Pro allowed me to track and analyze his journeys. The discussion focuses on the actors (such as traders, whalers, and missionaries) and colonial empires that enabled his movement across large expanses of bays, seas, and oceans. The intertwined effects of the Industrial Revolution and Eurocentrism were shrinking the world (time-space compression); these factors help understand Buffett’s ability to traverse the oceans with little except his own knowledge, skills, and a desire to wander.Item Pitcairn Islands Research Station Poster(2023-09) Albert, Donald Patrick; Elkins, Susan; Solomon, Mason; Purifoy, MatthewThe Pitcairn Islands Research Station (PIRS) functions as a portal for our studies involving the mutiny on the HMAV Bounty (April 28, 1789) and its aftermath. Our affiliate investigators include Donald Albert (Department of Environmental & Geosciences), Susan Elkins (Newton Gresham Library), Matthew Purifoy (Geography Major), and Mason Solomon (History Major). The purpose of PIRS is to disseminate our studies (abstracts, posters, magazine and journal articles) online through Scholarly Works @ SHSU to Bounty/Pitcairn enthusiasts worldwide.Item Article Showcases Pitcairn Tapa with Women of the Bounty & The Art of Pitcairn(Pitcairn Log, 2023) Albert, Donald PatrickAuthors Donald Patrick Albert and Matthew Purifoy encourage PISG members to download and print (free) their study titled “Repositioning Pitcairn’s Tapa: Detecting the Voices of the Forgotten Women of Bounty.”Item Lord Hood's Island of the Pitcairn Story: Where is it?(Pitcairn Log, 2023) Albert, Donald PatrickThe purpose of this investigation is to correct a geographic error introduced in Lucas’ The Pitcairn Island Register Book (hereafter Register Book) published in 1929 by the London-based Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The Register Book is an important secondary/primary source for scholars and enthusiasts interested in the early decades (1790-1854) of births, deaths, marriages and other significant happenings within this Anglo-Polynesian settlement on Pitcairn Island.Item Mutiny's Children: The Intersecting Lives of Christian Siblings from Pitcairn Island, 1790-1866, Abstract(2023-03) Albert, Donald PatrickThursday October, Charles, and Mary Ann were offspring of Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and his Tahitian wife Mauatua (aka Isabella). Each sibling had their claim to fame, for example: Thursday grappled with a name change conundrum over a supposed date line crossing; Charles challenged an imposter turned dictator; and Mary Ann inspired Mitford’s protagonist in Christina: The Maid of the South Seas: A Poem. The three siblings had a number of experiences in common. None of them had a clear recollection of their father, Fletcher Christian. Thursday and Mary Ann obtained some measure of global fame through their encounter with Mayhew Folger. All three siblings were involved in the failed relocation to Tahiti, only Charles and Mary Ann returned to Pitcairn Island. The three siblings probably enjoyed the feasts Thursday arranged for Captains King and Beechey. Thursday’s untimely death at Tahiti 1831 spared him suffering the wrath of Joshua Hill. Charles and Mary Ann variously attempted to challenge Joshua Hill’s authority, and ultimately he departed in 1837. The siblings had the benefit of having their mother throughout the majority of their lives. One wonders to the extent Mauatua shared her Polynesian heritage with her children. It is known that she created traditional garments using barkcloth as pieces exists in museums around the world. It is probable that Mary Ann was taught to make barkcloth, create patterns with natural dyes, and configure traditional garments. Only Mary Ann lived long enough to relocated to Norfolk, an opportunity that neither Thursday nor Charles ever realized.Item PISG member active in Pitcairn Studies(The Pitcairn Log, 2023-07) Pitcairn Islands Study GroupDr. Donald Albert of Huntsville, Texas, is one of the busiest PISG members these days.Item Visual Complement to "Did or Could Seabirds "Halo" Pitcairn Island for Fletcher Christian?" Abstract(2018) Albert, DonaldAbstract of a poster that was presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Southwest Division of The American Association of GeographersItem Chronicling Female Agency with Satellite Images and Photographs from Google Earth(2023) Albert, Donald PatrickAbstract. Teehuteatuaonoa, aka Jenny, was one of twelve Polynesian women accompanying HMAV Bounty mutineers to Pitcairn Island on January 15, 1790. Her accounts increased our knowledge of Bounty’s sailing track post-mutiny and island life during her nearly three decades (1790-1817) on Pitcairn Island (Albert 2021a). Jenny is the most traveled of Bounty’s women, and first to return to Tahiti after almost 30 years. Jenny’s journey is chronicled with satellite images and photographs from Google Earth. Her journey encompassed 15 links for a total of 24,090 km or 60% of the Earth’s circumference. The longest link was 7,400 km on the American Sultan from Coquimbo, Chile, to The Marquesas. Jenny’s life provides an example of strong female agency during a male-dominated era (late 1700s – early 1800s) when women’s voices were socially and institutionally repressed (Albert, 2021b).Item Repositioning Pitcairn’s Tapa: Detecting the Voices of the Forgotten Women of Bounty(Okinawan Journal of Island Studies, 2023-05) Albert, Donald Patrick; Purifoy, MatthewPitcairn Island tapa inventories, created by Ted Cookson and Pauline Reynolds, were merged, cross-referenced, and verified via online searches for a more comprehensive listing of tapa-holding institutions. Close examination of tapa artifacts created by Pitcairn’s original women settlers and their female descendants (1790 to approximately 1856) allow enthusiasts and scholars the opportunity to hear the voices of their ancestors. The current number of tapa artifacts, which includes garments, cloth fragments, and wooden and whalebone tapa beaters, is low at sixty items. Geographically, these artifacts are housed at institutions located mostly in the United Kingdom. The British Museum has the largest collection Pitcairn tapa, with twenty (33%) of all Pitcairn artifacts in public institutions worldwide. The authors suggest that an electronic atlas of tapa artifacts be developed and updated as possible items from private collections become public. This will allow descendants of this Anglo-Polynesian settlement to learn more about their female ancestors. In 2023, less than fifty people reside on Pitcairn Island, not all descendants. Thousands of descendants, however, dwelling on Norfolk Island, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, trace their ancestry through this isolated oceanic outpost.Item Recapping the History of the Antipodes: Reappraising Absolute and Relative Connotations(Research in Geographic Education, 2014-11) Albert, Donald Patrick; Stockwell, Nancy; Tiller, JimDuring the first half of the 20th century teaching and learning about the antipodes were considered a fundamental element within the undergraduate geography curricula. However, in the 1970s the antipodes were absent from Bacon’s surveys of domain, core, and sphere concepts in human and physical geography. In fast forwarding to the 21st century, the term has virtually disappeared from introductory-level geography curricula. This exploration confirms that rather than being an obscure concept, the antipodes percolate across a diverse range of illustrations in mathematics, cartography, geology, astronomy, to cultural geography, literature and social theory. Our discourse supports reclaiming the antipodes for their geodetic value within the undergraduate introductory geography curriculum, but stresses sensitivities when using relative connotations in social, cultural, and political arenas.Item Circumstantial response to "Who shot Bounty mast with this small lead ball?"(The Pitcairn Log, 2022-10) Albert, Donald PatrickA circumstantial response to Herb Ford's question "Who shot the Bounty mast with this small lead ball?" Using primary and secondary sources the author examins different situations for plausibility.Item Mary Ann Christian, Exercising Social and Spatial Agency: An Isolated Island Case(Shima, 2022) Albert, DonaldMary Ann Christian (1793-1866) was the only daughter of chief Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and his Tahitian consort Mauatua who settled on Pitcairn Island in 1790. After a violent first decade, and one death to a natural cause, the male population was reduced to a sole male survivor – John Adams. This created a female- dominated milieu within which Many Ann Christian operated with a strong degree of agency across social hierarchies involving island and empire actors, and spatially with her on- and off-island movements. While still a teenager, Mary Ann Christian became the inspiration for Mary Russell Mitford’s exquisite protagonist in Christina: The Maid of the South Seas: A Poem (1811). Almost three decades later, Lieutenant Lowry visiting from the Sparrowhawk dubbed her a cantankerous “old maid” for her concern that girls aged 13, 14, and 15 were too young for marriage; male dominance had reasserted itself. Primary and other credible sources, including demographics, document the events surrounding Herstory.Item Mutiny on the Bounty - A Cornucopia of Fruits and Invectives(The Pitcairn Log, 2022-07) Albert, DonaldOn April 28, 1789, the most infamous of mutinies occurred in the South Pacific Ocean within sight of an erupting volcano on Tofua. Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian deposed “Captain” William Bligh and eighteen men in the Bounty’s 23-foot launch to an almost certain death. After an unsuccessful settlement attempt on Tubuai, 350 miles south of Tahiti, Christian and eight mutineers, together with 19 Polynesians (six men, twelve women, and one infant girl), circuitously rediscovered Pitcairn Island on January 15, 1790. Being 212 miles east of its recorded position, this remote, isolated, and deserted island was an ideal outpost for renegades of the British Admiralty. Miraculously, Bligh sailed the launch successfully to Coupang, Timor, and eventually returned to England on March 14, 1790. Whereas Christian established a nascent settlement on a level patch of land above Bounty Bay accessible via an arduous path that became known as the “Hill of Difficulty.” While the story of the mutiny on the Bounty is well known, this version focuses on fruits as backdrop and springboard to conflict occurring during and after the mutiny. Bounty enthusiasts know that the original purpose of this voyage was to secure breadfruit saplings for the British West Indies as a cheap food source for plantation slaves. Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society in London and life-long supporter of William Bligh spearheaded this economic-botanical expedition. Beyond breadfruit, other fruits including coconuts and pumpkins became the impetus for igniting Bligh’s explosive temper. This account of the mutiny on the Bounty and its aftermath uses fruits as an unusual framework to view this romance on the high seas. Just note Richard Crane and David Essex’s concept album and musical about the H.M.S. Bounty in 1983 and 1985, respectively, which supports this notion. The album/musical included songs and scenes titled “Breadfruit” and “Pumpkin,” so the fruits motif is not an entirely an off-the-wall association.Item Miro Wood Carvings and the Pitcairners: Biogeography, Economics and Sustainability(The Pitcairn Log, 2022-01) Albert, Donald PatrickOn April 28, 1789, Fletcher Christian deposited Lt. William Bligh and 18 loyalists in the HMAV Bounty’s launch in view of an erupting volcano on Tofua in the South Pacific Ocean. Miraculously, Bligh survived this epic open-boat journey to Coupang, Timor, and ultimately to England to resume his naval career.