Built in 1835, the Commissariat was responsible for supplying food and other necessities to convicts and jailers in Norfolk Island’s penal compound.

These days, the upper levels of the old Commissariat building have been converted into a church. Its role in our history is not forgotten, however, with the basement serving as an exhibition space for Norfolk Island Museums’ archaeological collections.

Many of the objects on display here bring the cruel reality of life in Norfolk Island’s penal colony into sharp relief. You’ll see a cat o' nine tails (a multi-tailed whip), leg irons and part of the grinding mechanism from the nearby Crankmill, where prisoners were forced to perform backbreaking labour.