By Nick Squires in SydneyLast Updated: 1:44am BST 25/09/2007
One of the remotest remnants of the British Empire is looking for a new teacher — but only the most adventurous and self-sufficient need apply.
Pitcairn Island, a speck of land in the Pacific, halfway between New Zealand and South America, has a population of just 45 — descendants of those involved in the mutiny on the Bounty — and is administered by the British High Commission in New Zealand.
"We explain the island is isolated," said deputy commissioner Evan Dunn, from the Pitcairn Islands Office in Auckland. "We look for people who are independent, not so much the average city dweller."
advertisementTen people have already applied for the two-year posting that will pay £27,000 a year, tax-free.
After leading the mutiny on the Bounty against Capt William Bligh, first mate Fletcher Christian sailed nine mutineers, six Tahitian men and 11 Tahitian women to the island in 1789. They were searching for a place so isolated that it would enable them to evade British justice.
The island became notorious in 2004 after six men were found guilty of 32 child sex crimes dating over a 40-year period. They are imprisoned in the island's newly built jail.
