The Norfolk robin was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[2][3] Gmelin based his description on the "red-bellied flycatcher" from Norfolk Island that had been described and illustrated in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds.

It prefers areas with a dense understorey and an open ground layer with deep, moist litter for foraging in.

[9] After a period of decline to the 1980s, when the birds disappeared from many parts of the island, the population of the Norfolk robin apparently stabilised and was estimated at 400-500 pairs in 1988 with little change in 1997.

It is considered Endangered on the IUCN Red List because of the restricted size of the population and the small area of its distribution.