On a rainy day in October of 1999 the Queensland star dropped anchor just off Pitcairn Island.

It was there to resupply the small British territory and, due to a variety of factors, in that year this was only their second resupply, which meant that it carried an enormous quantity of goods.

Unloading efforts were further complicated by the ship having to anchor around the back end of the island, far from the landing in Bounty Bay, due to the particularly rough nature of the seas at that time.

Beyond all that cargo, though, the Queensland Star carried a passenger, Constable Gail Cox from

Kent, England.

After having worked as a visiting police officer on Pitcairn two years prior, she was there

again for a short six-week visit to check up on the island

and continue her work in training the local police officer who, at most times, was the only

law enforcement officer on the island.

Cox seemed to be well-liked with the community and certainly made an effort to engage with them.

For example, she ran a holiday poster competition with the kids.

She worked a lot with the kids, in fact, to educate them on right and wrong and distributed pamphlets to them on the nature of consent and abuse.

Those pamphlets would go on to kick off Pitcairn's Darkest, Decade.

On one of her 90 days there, Constable Cox was approached by a local teen girl.

This girl confided in her something that confirmed a narrative that Cox and other officials from abroad had heard

rumblings of for years.

The teen girl said that she had been raped at various points by two men on the island.

She had read Constable Cox's pamphlet and realized that what was happening

was not normal or okay. Even worse, this girl said that she was far from the only person on

the island to suffer those tragedies.

Officer Cox was taken aback by such a serious allegation in a place that, on the surface,

seemed so idyllic, and she had no choice but to report it to the British authorities.

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