Today, when I was shuffling through my cache of postage stamps, I found a window to a remote land in the Pacific. This was Pitcairn Islands, and the set of postage stamp was about a midwife, Lily Warren. As I began my journey to search for the person, and the health services on the Islands, what intrigued me were the islands themselves.
Pitcairn Islands are a British territory in the South Pacific. The territory consists of four islands—Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno, with a combined land area of about 47 square kilometres. Of them only Pitcairn is inhabited, with a population of 35 people. This makes it a territory with fewest people in the world. Further, the islands are really remote. The only way to reach them is by the sea, as nearest airport is Mangareva, in French Polynesia and is 688 kilometers away. The journey by ship takes two days, and the service is operational five days in a month.
A midwife on the remote islands
Very little information is available about Lily Warren. She was born on the islands, in May 1878, when the population was between 70-100. When she was 19, she had her first child, and had another four in later years. As a midwife, she was probably the only medical help for many years to come. Rest is open to speculation.
Between 1900 and 1936, the population on the Islands expanded from 112 to 230. Thereafter, it is in decline, and in 1969 when Lily Warren passed away, it was only 96. As a midwife, and with no nearby health facilities, Lily’s task must have been enormous. Even today, the nearest hospital to the Islands is about 2000km away.
I found one article, coauthored by the only doctor and only nurse on the Islands recently in 2024. They describe how they managed health of about 35 individuals during the COVID pandemic years. The Islands were totally closed down, and did not have a single instance of this viral illness. A remarkable feat indeed. Today, baring five individuals everyone else is aged 40 and above. The islands have seen only two births in the last two decades, and today population decline is a major worry.
The Prominent Pitcairner series
In 2013, the Island issued five postage stamp-sets on prominent citizens. Other than Lily Warren, who was a midwife, others were Parkin Christian (navigator and a chief magistrate), Roy P. Clark (Writer, Teacher and postmaster), Ben Christian (sculptor), and Rosalind Amelia Young (chronicler and a teacher).
All Pitcairners are descendants of the mutineers of the British ship HMS Bounty and their Tahitian Polynesian consorts. In 1789, seventeen of them had rebelled, took the cargo, and burned the ship when they reached Pitcairn. The island community survived till they were was discovered by American whalers in 1808. In 1856, all population was relocated to Norfolk Islands, but some diehards returned back two years later. Lily Warren was a descendant of these 16, who returned back in 1859, and her grand children are amongst the 35 who hold fort today.
The islands became a British territory in 1898. Britishers administer the Islands from either New Zealand or Fiji. Honey and sale of postage stamps are major exports from the Islands. The residents got internet access in 2002. Pitcairn has issued postage stamps since 1940, and the last issue was in 2022. (See listing here)
I am indeed looking forward to a trip to the remote Islands. As the Pitcairn tourism website mentions “Pitcairn is where history meets future, blue meets green, sea meets sky, and we meet you”
Excellent..all the best for the trip.