British colonisation of Norfolk Island began in 1788 when a Penal Colony was established on the remote island. It was soon established that Rhopalostylis baueri, or as the early settlers called them, Cabbage Palm, was edible and trees were cut down simply for the newly emerging centre frons. When the admiralty supply ship Sirius was wrecked in the reef in Slaughter Bay in 1790 the colony was under such pressure for food that not only was the Providence Petral bird wiped out but most of the Cabbage Palms had been cut down.br/Nevertheless by 1914 the Palms were again abundant in the forest and gullies of Norfolk Island and today can be found in large quantities in Norfolk Island National Park although not generally on private land where instead, one finds Howea forsteriana, which hails southern neighboring island, Lord Howe Island. It was planted extensively as a plantation tree and grown for its seeds, although today the industry is no longer viable.