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I found the Island a turbulent, brutal hell, and I left it a peaceful, well-ordered community.

Alexander Maconochie's own summary of what his "mark system" reforms achieved as commandant of the Norfolk Island penal settlement between 1840 and 1844.

Alexander Maconochie, Norfolk Island

Source: Norval Morris, Maconochie's Gentlemen: The Story of Norfolk Island and the Roots of Modern Prison Reform (2002) — widely cited summary of Maconochie's claim

More Proverbs from Norfolk Island

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