Interview with Sarah Glass: Correspondent and Photographer of the Tristan da Cunha Times

21 January 2006

Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited island in the world. It is located in the South Atlantic Ocean. To give you an idea of its location, here are a few markers. The South American coast is about 2100 miles or 3380 kms away, Cape Town, South Africa is 1750 miles or 2816 kms in the distance, and the Island of St. Helena is 1350 miles or about 2175 kms from Tristan da Cunha. The island is the remnant of a volcanic cone, and has dimensions of 7.5 miles (12 kms) in diameter, along with a circumference of about 25 miles (48 kms). In 1506, the island was discovered by the Portuguese navigator, Admiral Tristao da Cunha, and 2006 marks the Quincentary celebration. The first settler was an American named Jonathan Lambert who arrived in 1810; however, he died two years later in a boating accident. In 1815, the United Kingdom claimed the islands, and ruled them from their Cape Colony located in South Africa. Presently, Tristan da Cunha is a British Overseas Territory.

The 274 residents of the island trace their roots, along with their present surnames, to seven original settlers:

William Glass, 1816, from Scotland.
Thomas Swain, 1826, from England.
Peter Green, 1836, from Holland.
Thomas Rogers, 1836, from the USA.
Andrew Hagan, Andrew Hagan, 1849, from the USA.
Andrea Repetto, 1892, from Italy.
Gaetano Lavarello, 1892, from Italy.

According to www.tristandc.com, which is government funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, “Tristan da Cunha’s economy is based on traditional subsistence farming and fishing to provide islanders with their own food. Valuable foreign earnings come from the royalties from the commercial Crawfishing (Tristan Rock Lobster) Industry and the sale of postage stamps and coins…”

Residents own their respective farms, and also are employed by the government or fishing industries. Mr. Glass wanted to create a culture based upon equality; consequently, all land on Tristan is communally owned. What we might call “community property” here in North America. Livestock also comes under stringent procedures to preserve pasturelands and “to prevent better off families from accumulating wealth.”

Miss Sarah Glass, as you can see, is descended from the original founding father, Mr. William Glass from Scotland. In 2005, Miss Glass was awarded a SARTMA (South Atlantic Remote Territories Media Association) Scholarship to study journalism in the Falkland Islands. She is also a contributing writer and photographer for the Tristan Times, which is a free and independent press set up and privately funded by the inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha.

Sarah, a warm welcome to Calcio Connection!

Q1: Steve Amoia (SA). Can you please describe what it was like growing up in a very remote section of the South Atlantic? What were your challenges, advantages, and life perspective due to your geographic location?

A1: Sarah Glass (SG). I believe I had an excellent childhood, everyone knows everyone else, so there are a lot of family and friends to get involved with. You are walking distance to all your family’s houses, granny's, Aunt’s, houses etc, and are never lonely.

You go to school at 9 am come home for lunch between 12.30 - 1.30 and then back at school until 3 pm, so all families have lunch together everyday, unless it is a fishing day or some major work going on. After school you may go play with friends, and sometimes may not go home until after dark, but your parents don't worry if they don't see you, as they know you are having tea at someone's house. The freedom you have as a child is hard to explain, but its great not having to worry about child abuse, drugs or any sort of harm coming to you. No Children has died or come to harm that I know off in my lifetime, if a child does not died at birth then, you usually live to a ripe old age.


I have spent two and a half years in the Falklands, and a year in the Shetland Islands with my parents, I enjoyed the experience in the Falklands but not in the Shetlands, and missed many school days there. I missed my friends and the freedom of going where I wanted too when I wanted too, even after dark. The challenges you have are that you don't have to your hands all the material or opportunities to follow a career of your choice, and there is a gap between 15-20 years where there's not a lot of entertainment for teenagers of that age, disco's etc.

All in all, I think children are very lucky on Tristan and get terribly homesick when they leave for further education, or experience, but then so do grown ups. You can take an islander off an island, but you can't take an island out of an islander.

Q2: (SA). I have included one of your pictures of the mail ship off the coast of Tristan da Cunha. How often do you receive mail, and what are your options for television, cinema, and the Internet?

A2: (SG). We receive mail approximately 8-10 times a year if we are lucky. The disadvantages are that your Christmas mail doesn't always arrive near Christmas. For Tristanians it's a real treat to receive mail from families and friends away from home.

We don't have many television options. The only Satellite TV channel/connection we have is the British Forces Broadcasting Services (BFBS) and we only get one channel, although it's the best sport and a few soaps. We saw the disaster in the US with the miners, the twin towers been hit, etc. Most all the families on Tristan have this service, others use DVD Machines and Video Recorders, and although we do not have a video library Tristanians will swap their DVD'S and tapes with each other and being 105 families that’s a lot of watching. Usually the children will go with their backpacks and collect from one family and deliver to another. We do not have a Cinema or any restaurants on Tristan, although it would be good if a larger group of islanders could come together to watch a film, it would be good for the older people and all your friends and family to have a laugh.

Internet access is not available to Tristanians. The Administrators Office is the only place where you could get on to the internet at a very high price around 8US dollars a min, although the Post Office and Natural Resources Department also can send and receive e-mails. It’s great to be able to send e-mails to family overseas and not have to wait for two to three months for snail mail. Everyone is hoping that one day very soon this will be available to people in their homes.

Q3: (SA). Two original inhabitants were Italian: Andrea Repetto and Gaetano Lavarello. Before 1942, Tristan da Cunha did not have a formal hospital facility. Camogli Hospital is named after their native town in Italy. How many doctors and nurses serve the island’s health care needs, and how many children, approximately, are born on Tristan da Cunha each year?

A3: (SG). We only have one Doctor on Tristan, and he usually comes from South Africa, and stays 1-2 years at a time. We have 5 nurses, I dental nurse and a five bed hospital. There are usually only 1-3 children born a year.

Q4: (SA). Miss Juanita Brock, your colleague at the Tristan Times, mentioned that visiting ships sometimes play football games against your local teams. How popular is football on your island? Are you able to follow the European leagues and international football, and do Tristanians look forward to the World Cup of 2006?

A4: (SG). Yes we are able to following the European leagues and international football on our BFBS Sat TV channel, which has all the best sport especially designed for the armed forces. Many of the young people like to play football, especially against visiting ships, as they don't have any competition on the island with such a range of ages of boys on the island. There are only 34 children in our school. They have a football team sponsored by the Fishing Company "Ovenstones" who have the exclusive rights to catch the 365 tonnes of lobster around the Tristan Group.

For young people, football plays an important role as they don't really play another sport, because if you get really hurt, and it has happened, it means a medical evacuation to South Africa for treatment. Tristanians enjoy playing football with people outside of Tristan, as it's a get together and they improve on the game, although the Navy usually trash's them.

Q5: (SA). You are a journalism student, and have begun your career with the Tristan Times. Who are some of your favorite authors, and what area of journalism does plan to pursue in the future?

A5: (SG). A don't really have a favorite author, but I like Charles Dickens, or any books set back in the 18 or early 1900 hundreds. It’s too early to say if I will continue in journalism, I made up my mind to get involved when I have continued to read incorrect stories that have been written about Tristan. We often get a tourist ashore from a cruise vessel for an hour and do a big write up about Tristan and more than often they don't have a clue. It’s not all roses living on Tristan in isolation, when you have to plan things months ahead all the time, but we don't live in the Victorian times either. For more info on Tristan purchase a Guide to Tristan da Cunha, which will give you all you need to know about Tristan.

(SA). Sarah, thank you very much for your contribution to Calcio Connection. All the best wishes to you and your family.

___________________________
by Steve Amoia, AC Cugini CALCIO CONNECTION

Author's note: A special thanks to Miss Juanita Brock for her assistance with this article.
Website of the Tristan Times