Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...
between
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, part of the Australian state of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
. It lies directly east of mainland
Port Macquarie
Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...
, northeast of
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, and about southwest of
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...
. It is about long and between wide with an area of , though just of that comprise the low-lying developed part of the island.
Along the west coast is a sandy semi-enclosed sheltered
coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Co ...
lagoon. Most of the population lives in the north, while the south is dominated by forested hills rising to the highest point on the island, Mount Gower (). The Lord Howe Island Group comprises 28 islands, islets, and rocks. Apart from Lord Howe Island itself, the most notable of these is the volcanic and uninhabited
Ball's Pyramid
Ball's Pyramid is an erosional remnant of a shield volcano and caldera lying southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean. It is high, while measuring in length and only across, making it the tallest volcanic stack in the world. Bal ...
about to the southeast of Howe. To the north lies a cluster of seven small uninhabited islands called the
Admiralty Group
The Admiralty Group of islets consists of eight rocky outcrops within 2 km of the north of Lord Howe Island. From south to north, these are:
#Soldier’s Cap
#Sugarloaf
#South Island
#Noddy
#Roach Island
#Tenth of June
#North Rock
#Flat Rock
...
.
The first reported sighting of Lord Howe Island took place on 17 February 1788, when Lieutenant
Henry Lidgbird Ball
Henry Lidgbird Ball (7 December 1756 – 22 October 1818) was a Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy of the British Empire. While Ball was best known as the commander of the First Fleet's , he was also notable for the exploration and the establishmen ...
, commander of the Armed Tender HMS ''Supply'', was en route from
Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
to found a penal settlement on
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...
. On the return journey, Ball sent a party ashore on Lord Howe Island to claim it as a British possession. It subsequently became a provisioning port for the whaling industry, and was permanently settled in June 1834. When whaling declined, the 1880s saw the beginning of the worldwide export of the endemic kentia palms, which remains a key component of the island's economy. The other continuing industry, tourism, began after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
ended in 1945.
The Lord Howe Island Group is part of the state of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
and is regarded legally as an
unincorporated area
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
administered by the Lord Howe Island Board, which reports to the New South Wales Minister for Environment and Heritage. The island's standard
time zone
A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...
UTC+11
UTC+11:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +11:00. This time is used in:
As standard time (year-round)
''Principal cities: Nouméa, Magadan, Honiara, Port Vila, Palikir, Weno, Buka, Arawa '' North Asia
*Russia – Magadan ...
when
daylight saving time
Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...
applies. The currency is the
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar (sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Island s ...
. Commuter airlines provide flights to
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, and
Port Macquarie
Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...
.
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
records the Lord Howe Island Group as a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
of global natural significance. Most of the island is virtually untouched
forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
, with many of the plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Other natural attractions include the diversity of the landscapes, the variety of
upper mantle
The upper mantle of Earth is a very thick layer of rock inside the planet, which begins just beneath the crust (at about under the oceans and about under the continents) and ends at the top of the lower mantle at . Temperatures range from appro ...
coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Co ...
, nesting
seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...
s, and the rich historical and cultural heritage. The Lord Howe Island Act 1981 established a "Permanent Park Preserve" (covering about 70% of the island). The island was added to the
Australian National Heritage List
The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...
on 21 May 2007 and the
New South Wales State Heritage Register
The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...
on 2 April 1999. The surrounding waters are a protected region designated the
Lord Howe Island Marine Park
Lord Howe Island Marine Park is the site of Australia's and the world's most southern coral reef ecosystem. The island is 10 km in length, 2 km wide and consists of a large lagoonal reef system along its leeward side, with 28 small isl ...
.
Bioregion
Lord Howe Island is part of the
IBRA
The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities. It was devel ...
region Pacific Subtropical Islands (code PSI) and is subregion PSI01 with an area of . In the WWF
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
system, Lord Howe Island constitutes the entirety of the 'Lord Howe Island subtropical forests' ecoregion (WWF ID#AA0109). This ecoregion is in the
Australasian realm
The Australasian realm is a biogeographic realm that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua New Guinea and ...
, and the
tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Description
TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...
biome
A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...
. The WWF ecoregion has an area of 14 km2.
History
Prehistory
Prior to European discovery and settlement, Lord Howe Island apparently was uninhabited, and unknown to
Polynesian peoples
Polynesians form an ethnolinguistic group of closely related people who are native to Polynesia (islands in the Polynesian Triangle), an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sout ...
of the South Pacific. No evidence to suggest prehistoric human activity has ever been found on Lord Howe Island, even after an extensive archaeological investigation in 1996. In ''Australian Archaeology'' Atholl Anderson concluded in 2003 that, "the case for no pre-European settlement on Lord Howe Island is now more compelling than before" and that "the absence of pre-European settlement on Lord Howe Island is not easily explained. At 16 km2 it is twice the size of
Pitcairn Island
Pitcairn Island is the only inhabited island of the Pitcairn Islands, of which many inhabitants are descendants of mutineers of HMS ''Bounty''.
Geography
The island is of volcanic origin, with a rugged cliff coastline. Unlike many other ...
and half the size of
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...
, two other remote subtropical islands that were inhabited prehistorically, and it had a biota very similar to that of Norfolk Island."http://australianarchaeology.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Anderson-2003.pdf
1788–1834: First European visits
The first reported European sighting of Lord Howe Island was on 17 February 1788 by Lieutenant
Henry Lidgbird Ball
Henry Lidgbird Ball (7 December 1756 – 22 October 1818) was a Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy of the British Empire. While Ball was best known as the commander of the First Fleet's , he was also notable for the exploration and the establishmen ...
, commander of the Armed Tender (the oldest and smallest of the
First Fleet
The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...
ships), which was on its way from Botany Bay with a cargo of nine male and six female convicts to found a
penal settlement
A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...
on
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...
. On the return journey of 13 March 1788, Ball observed
Ball's Pyramid
Ball's Pyramid is an erosional remnant of a shield volcano and caldera lying southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean. It is high, while measuring in length and only across, making it the tallest volcanic stack in the world. Bal ...
and sent a party ashore on Lord Howe Island to claim it as a British possession. Numerous turtles and tame birds were captured and returned to Sydney. Ball named
Mount Lidgbird
Mount Lidgbird, also Mount Ledgbird and Big Hill, is located in the southern section of Lord Howe Island, just north of Mount Gower, from which it is separated by the saddle at the head of Erskine Valley, and has its peak at above sea level.
...
and Ball's Pyramid after himself and the main island after
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, (8 March 1726 – 5 August 1799) was a British naval officer. After serving throughout the War of the Austrian Succession, he gained a reputation for his role in amphibious operations aga ...
, who was
First Lord of the Admiralty
The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...
at the time.
Many names on the island date from this time, and also from May of the same year, when four ships of the First Fleet, , , ''
Lady Penrhyn
''Lady Penrhyn'' was built on the River Thames in 1786 as a slave ship.
''Lady Penrhyn'' was designed as a two-deck ship for use in the Atlantic slave trade, with a capacity of 275 slaves. She was part-owned by William Compton Sever, who serve ...
'' and , visited it. Much of the plant and animal life was first recorded in the journals and diaries of visitors such as David Blackburn, Master of ''Supply'', and
Arthur Bowes Smyth
Arthur Bowes Smyth (23 August 175031 March 1790) was a naval surgeon, who traveled on ''Lady Penrhyn'' as a part of the First Fleet that established a penal colony in New South Wales. Smyth kept a diary and documented the natural history he enc ...
, surgeon of the ''Lady Penrhyn''.
Smyth was in Sydney when the ''Supply'' returned from the first voyage to Norfolk Island. His journal entry for 19 March 1788 noted that "the ''Supply'', in her return, landed at the island she iscoveredin going out, and all were very agreeably surprised to find great numbers of fine turtle on the beach and, on the land amongst the trees, great numbers of fowls very like a guinea hen, and another species of fowl not unlike the landrail in England, and all so perfectly tame that you could frequently take hold of them with your hands but could, at all times, knock down as many as you thought proper, with a short stick. Inside the reef also there were fish innumerable, which were so easily taken with a hook and line as to be able to catch a boat full in a short time. She brought thirteen large turtle to Port Jackson and many were distributed among the camp and fleet."
Watercolour sketches of native birds including the
Lord Howe woodhen
The Lord Howe woodhen (''Hypotaenidia sylvestris'') also known as the Lord Howe Island woodhen or Lord Howe (Island) rail, is a flightless bird of the rail family, (Rallidae). It is endemic to Lord Howe Island off the Australian coast. It is curr ...
(''Gallirallus sylvestris''), white gallinule ('' Porphyrio albus''), and Lord Howe pigeon (''Columba vitiensis godmanae''), were made by artists including
George Raper
George Raper (19 September 1769 – 29 September 1796) was a Royal Navy officer who as an able seaman joined the crew of and the First Fleet to establish a colony at Botany Bay, New South Wales, now Australia. He is best known today for his ...
and John Hunter. As the latter two birds were soon hunted to extinction, these paintings are their only remaining pictorial record. Over the next three years, the ''Supply'' returned to the island several times in search of turtles, and the island was also visited by ships of the
Second
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...
and
Third Fleet
The United States Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean areas including the Bering ...
s. Between 1789 and 1791, the Pacific whale industry was born with British and American whaling ships chasing
sperm whale
The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...
s (''Physeter macrocephalus'') along the equator to the Gilbert and Ellice archipelago, then south into Australian and New Zealand waters. The American fleet numbered 675 ships and Lord Howe was located in a region known as the Middle Ground noted for sperm whales and
southern right whale
The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...
s (''Eubalaena australis'').
The island was subsequently visited by many government and whaling ships sailing between New South Wales and Norfolk Island and across the Pacific, including many from the American whaling fleet, so its reputation as a provisioning port preceded settlement, with some ships leaving goats and pigs on the island as food for future visitors. Between July and October 1791, the Third Fleet ships arrived at Sydney and within days, the deckwork was being reconstructed for a future in the lucrative whaling industry.
Whale oil
Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Whale oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train oil, which comes from the Dutch word ''traan'' ("tears, tear" or "drop").
Sperm oil, a special kind of oil obtained from the ...
was to become Australia's most profitable export until the 1830s, and the whaling industry shaped Lord Howe Island's early history.
1834–1841: Settlement
Permanent settlement on Lord Howe was established in June 1834, when the British whaling
barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...
''Caroline'', sailing from
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and commanded by Captain John Blinkenthorpe, landed at what is now known as Blinky Beach. They left three men, George Ashdown, James Bishop, and Chapman, who were employed by a Sydney whaling firm to establish a supply station. The men were initially to provide meat by fishing and by raising pigs and goats from feral stock. They landed with (or acquired from a visiting ship) their
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
wives and two Māori boys. Huts were built in an area now known as Old Settlement, which had a supply of fresh water, and a garden was established west of Blinky Beach.
This was a
cashless society
In a cashless society, financial transactions are not conducted with physical banknotes or coins, but instead with digital information (usually an electronic representation of money). Cashless societies have existed from the time when human soc ...
; the settlers
barter
In trade, barter (derived from ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists distingu ...
ed their stores of water, wood, vegetables, meat, fish, and bird feathers for clothes, tea, sugar, tools, tobacco, and other commodities not available on the island, but it was the whalers' valuation that had to be accepted. These first settlers eventually left the island when they were bought out for £350 in September 1841 by businessmen Owen Poole and Richard Dawson (later joined by John Foulis), whose employees and others then settled on the island.
1842–1860: Trading provisions
The new business was advertised and ships trading between Sydney and the
New Hebrides
New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...
(
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
) would also put into the island. ''Rover's Bride'', a small cutter, became the first regular trading vessel. Between 1839 and 1859, five to 12 ships made landfall each year, occasionally closer to 20, with seven or eight at a time laying off the reef. In 1842 and 1844, the first children were born on the island. Then in 1847, Poole, Dawson, and Foulis, bitter at failing to obtain a land lease from the New South Wales government, abandoned the settlement although three of their employees remained. One family, the Andrews, after finding some
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...
s on the beach in 1848, cultivated them as the "Lord Howe red onion", which was popular in the Southern Hemisphere for about 30 years until the crop was attacked by smut disease.
In 1849, just 11 people were living on the island, but soon the island farms expanded. In the 1850s, gold was discovered on mainland Australia, where crews would abandon their ships, preferring to dig for gold than to risk their lives at sea. As a consequence, many vessels avoided the mainland and Lord Howe Island experienced an increasing trade, which peaked between 1855 and 1857. In 1851, about 16 people were living on the island. Vegetable crops now included potatoes, carrots, maize, pumpkin, taro, watermelon, and even grapes, passionfruit, and coffee. Between 1851 and 1853, several aborted proposals were made by the NSW government to establish a penal settlement on the island.
From 1851 to 1854,
Henry Denham
Henry Denham was one of the outstanding English printers of the sixteenth century.
He was apprenticed to Richard Tottel and took up the freedom of the Stationers' Company on 30 August 1560. In 1564 he set up his own printing house in White Cros ...
hydrographic survey
Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/offshore oil drilling and related activities. Strong emphasis is placed ...
Edinburgh Botanic Garden
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies ...
),
John MacGillivray
John MacGillivray (18 December 1821 – 6 June 1867) was a Scottish naturalist, active in Australia between 1842 and 1867.
MacGillivray was born in Aberdeen, the son of ornithologist William MacGillivray. He took part in three of the Royal Nav ...
(naturalist) who collected fish and plant specimens, and assistant surgeon and zoologist Denis Macdonald. Together, these men established much basic information on the geology, flora, and fauna of the island.
Around 1853, a further three settlers arrived on the American whaling barque ''Belle'', captained by Ichabod Handy. George Campbell (who died in 1856) and Jack Brian (who left the island in 1854) arrived, and the third, Nathan Thompson, brought three women (called Botanga, Bogoroo, and a girl named Bogue) from the
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...
. When his first wife Botanga died, he then married Bogue. Thompson was the first resident to build a substantial house in the 1860s from mainland cedar washed up on the beach. Most of the residents with island ancestors have blood relations or are connected by marriage to Thompson and his second wife Bogue.
In 1855, the island was officially designated as part of New South Wales by the Constitution Act.
1861–1890: Scientific expeditions
From the early 1860s, whaling declined rapidly with the increasing use of petroleum, the onset of the
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
, and the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
—with unfortunate consequences for the island. To explore alternative means of income, Thompson, in 1867, purchased the ''Sylph'', which was the first local vessel to trade with Sydney (mainly pigs and onions). It anchored in deep water at what is now Sylph's Hole off Old Settlement Beach, but was eventually tragically lost at sea in 1873, which added to the woes of the island at that time.
In 1869, the island was visited by magistrate P. Cloete aboard the ''Thetis'' investigating a possible murder. He was accompanied by Charles Moore, director of the Botanic Gardens in Sydney, and his assistant William Carron, who forwarded plant specimens to Ferdinand Mueller at the botanic gardens in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, who by 1875, had catalogued and published 195 species. Also on the ship was William Fitzgerald, a surveyor, and Mr Masters from the
Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...
. Together, they surveyed the island with the findings published in 1870 when the population was listed as 35 people, their 13 houses built of split
palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm (ba ...
batten
A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields.
In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...
s
thatched
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
on the roof and sides with palm leaves. Around this time, a downturn of trade began with the demise of the whaling industry and sometimes six to 12 months passed without a vessel calling. With the provisions rotting in the storehouses, the older families lost interest in market gardening.
From 1860 to 1872, 43 ships had collected provisions, but from 1873 to 1887, fewer than a dozen had done so. This prompted some activity from the mainland. In 1876, a government report on the island was submitted by surveyor William Fitzgerald based on a visit in the same year. He suggested that coffee be grown, but the
kentia palm
''Howea forsteriana'', the Kentia palm, thatch palm or palm court palm, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, Arecaceae, endemic to Lord Howe Island in Australia. It is also widely grown on Norfolk Island. It is a relatively slow-g ...
was already catching world attention. In 1878, the island was declared a forest reserve and Captain Richard Armstrong became the first resident government administrator. He encouraged schools, tree-planting, and the palm trade, dynamited the north passage to the lagoon, and built roads. He also managed to upset the residents, and parliamentarian
Bowie Wilson
John Bowie Wilson (17 June 1820 – 30 April 1883), often referred to as J. Bowie Wilson, was a politician, gold miner and hydropath in colonial New South Wales, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for more than 12 years. Person ...
was sent from the mainland in April 1882 to investigate the situation. With Wilson was a team of scientists who included H. Wilkinson from the Mines Department, W. Condor from the Survey Department, J. Duff from the Sydney Botanical Gardens, and A. Morton from the Australian Museum. J. Sharkey from the Government Printing Office took the earliest known photographs of the island and its residents. A full account of the island appeared in the report from this visit, which recommended that Armstrong be replaced. Meanwhile, the population had increased considerably and included 29 children; the report recommended that a schoolmaster be appointed. This study sealed a lasting relationship with three scientific organisations, the Australian Museum, Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens, and
Kew Royal Botanic Gardens
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...
.
1890–1999
In 1883, the company
Burns Philp
Burns Philp (properly Burns, Philp & Co, Limited) was once a major Australian shipping line and merchant that operated in the South Pacific. When the well-populated islands around New Guinea were targeted for blackbirding in the 1880s, a new ...
started a regular shipping service and the number of tourists gradually increased. By 1932, with the regular tourist run of SS ''Morinda'', tourism became the second-largest source of external income after palm sales to Europe. ''Morinda'' was replaced by in 1932, and she in turn by other vessels. The service continues into the present day with the fortnightly Island Trader service from Port Macquarie.
The palm trade began in the 1880s when the lowland kentia palm (''
Howea forsteriana
''Howea forsteriana'', the Kentia palm, thatch palm or palm court palm, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, Arecaceae, endemic to Lord Howe Island in Australia. It is also widely grown on Norfolk Island. It is a relatively slow-g ...
'') was first exported to Britain, Europe, and America, but the trade was only placed on a firm financial footing when the Lord Howe Island Kentia Palm Nursery was formed in 1906 (see below).
The first plane to appear on the island was in 1931, when
Francis Chichester
Sir Francis Charles Chichester KBE (17 September 1901 – 26 August 1972) was a British businessman, pioneering aviator and solo sailor.
He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for becoming the first person to sail single-handed around the worl ...
alighted on the lagoon in a
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
The de Havilland DH.60 Moth is a 1920s British two-seat touring and training aircraft that was developed into a series of aircraft by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.
Development
The DH.60 was developed from the larger DH.51 biplane. ...
converted into a
floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
. It was damaged there in an overnight storm, but repaired with the assistance of islanders and then took off successfully nine weeks later for a flight to Sydney. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, in 1947, tourists arrived on
Catalina
Catalina may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''The Catalina'', a 2012 American reality television show
* ''Catalina'' (novel), a 1948 novel by W. Somerset Maugham
* Catalina (''My Name Is Earl''), character from the NBC sitcom ''My Name Is Earl''
...
and then four-engined
Sandringham Sandringham can refer to:
Places
* Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia
* Sandringham, Queensland, Australia
* Sandringham, Victoria, Australia
**Sandringham railway line
**Sandringham railway station
**Electoral district of Sandringham
* Sand ...
flying boats of
Ansett Flying Boat Services
Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into adminis ...
operating out of Rose Bay, Sydney, and landing on the lagoon, the journey taking about 3½ hours. When
Lord Howe Island Airport
Lord Howe Island Airport is an airport providing air transportation to Lord Howe Island. Lord Howe Island is located in the Tasman Sea, east of Port Macquarie on the coast of mainland Australia. The airport is operated by the Lord Howe Island ...
was completed in 1974, the seaplanes were eventually replaced with
QantasLink
QantasLink is a regional brand of Australian airline Qantas and is an affiliate member of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is a major competitor to Regional Express Airlines and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines. As of September 2010 Qantas ...
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
destroyer struck Wolf Rock, a reef at Lord Howe Island, and almost sank. In recent times, tourism has increased and the government of New South Wales has been increasingly involved with issues of conservation.
On 17 October 2011, a supply ship, M/V ''Island Trader'', with 20 tons of fuel, ran aground in the lagoon. The ship refloated at high tide with no loss of crew or cargo.
The 2016 film '' The Shallows'' starring
Blake Lively
Blake Ellender Lively ( Brown; born August 25, 1987) is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles, Lively is the daughter of actor Ernie Lively, and made her professional debut in his directorial project ''Sandman'' (1998). She starred as Brid ...
was largely filmed on the island.
During the
COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales
The COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in New South Wales was identified on 1 ...
, a public health order was issued on 22 March 2020 that declared Lord Howe Island a public risk area and directed restricted access. As of that date there were no known cases of COVID-19 on the Island.
One of the most contentious issues amongst islanders in the 21st century is what to do about the
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...
situation. Rodents have only been on the island since the ran aground in 1918, and have wiped out several endemic bird species and were thought to have done the same to the
Lord Howe Island stick insect
''Dryococelus australis'', commonly known as the Lord Howe Island stick insect or tree lobster, is a species of stick insect that lives on the Lord Howe Island Group. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Dryococelus''. Thought to be ex ...
. A plan in 2016 was made to drop 42 tonnes of rat bait across the island, but the community was heavily divided.
The island was due to be declared rodent-free in October 2021, two years after the last live rat was found, but a living male and pregnant female were discovered in April 2021. The eradication, contrary to many community reservations, has seen birds, insects and plants flourish at levels not seen in decades.
Demographics
As at the 2016 census, the resident population was 382 people, and the number of tourists was not allowed to exceed 400. Early settlers were European and American whalers and many of their offspring have remained on the island for more than six generations. Residents now work in the kentia palm industry, tourism, retail, some fishing, and farming. In 1876 on Sundays, games and labour were suspended, but no religious services were held. Nowadays, the area known locally as Church Paddock has
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
,
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, and
Adventist
Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher Wil ...
churches, the religious affiliations on the island being 30% Anglican, 22% no religion, 18% Catholic and 12% Seventh Day Adventist. The ratio of the sexes is roughly equal, with 47% of the population in the age group 25–54 and 92% holding
Australian citizenship
Australian nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds Australian legal nationality. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, which came into force on 1 July 2007 and is applic ...
.
Governance and land tenure
Official control of Lord Howe Island lay initially with the
British Crown
The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...
until it passed to New South Wales in 1855, although until at least 1876, the islanders lived in "a relatively harmonious and self-regulating community". In 1878, Richard Armstrong was appointed administrator when the NSW Parliament declared the island a forest reserve, but as a result of ill feeling, and an enquiry, he was eventually removed from office on 31 May 1882 (he returned later that year though to view the
transit of Venus
frameless, upright=0.5
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a trans ...
from present-day Transit Hill). After his removal, the island was administered by four successive magistrates until 1913, when a Sydney-based board was formed; in 1948, a resident superintendent was appointed. In 1913, the three-man Lord Howe Island Board of Control was established, mostly to regulate the
palm seed
The Arecaceae is a family (biology), family of Perennial plant, perennial flowering plants in the Monocotyledon, monocot order (biology), order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbing palm, climbers, Shrub, shrubs, tree-like and stemless p ...
industry, but also administering the affairs of the island from Sydney until the present Lord Howe Island Board was set up in 1954.
The
Lord Howe Island Board
The Lord Howe Island Board is a NSW Statutory Authority established under the ''Lord Howe Island Act, 1953'', to administer Lord Howe Island, an unincorporated island territory within the jurisdiction of the State of New South Wales, Australia, i ...
is a NSW Statutory Authority established under the Lord Howe Island Act 1953, to administer the island as part of the state of New South Wales. It reports directly to the state's
Minister for Environment and Heritage
The New South Wales Minister for the Environment and Heritage is minister in the Government of New South Wales with responsibilities which included environmental regulation and policy, national parks, and the conservation and protection of bu ...
, and is responsible for the care, control, and management of the island. Its duties include the protection of
World Heritage
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
values; the control of development; the administration of Crown Land, including the island's protected area; provision of community services and infrastructure; and regulating
sustainable tourism
Sustainable tourism is a concept that covers the complete tourism experience, including concern for economic, social and environmental issues as well as attention to improving tourists' experiences and addressing the needs of host communities. Su ...
. In 1981, the Lord Howe Island Amendment Act gave islanders the administrative power of three members on a five-member board. The board also manages the Lord Howe Island kentia palm nursery, which together with tourism, provides the island's only sources of external income. Under an amendment bill in 2004, the board now comprises seven members, four of whom are elected from the islander community, thus giving about 350 permanent residents a high level of autonomy. The remaining three members are appointed by the minister to represent the interests of business, tourism, and conservation. The full board meets on the island every three months, while the day-to-day affairs of the island are managed by the board's administration, with a permanent staff that had increased to 22 people by 1988.
Land tenure
In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...
has been an issue since first settlement, as island residents repeatedly requested
freehold title
In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., perm ...
or an absolute gift of cultivated land. Original settlers were
squatters
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
. The granting of a lease to Richard Armstrong in 1878 drew complaints, and a few short-term leases ("permissive occupancies") were granted. In 1913, with the appointment of a board of control, permissive occupancies were revoked and the board itself given permissive occupancy of the island. Then the Lord Howe Island Act 1953 made all land the property of the Crown. Direct descendants of islanders with permissive occupancies in 1913 were granted perpetual leases on blocks up to for residential purposes. Short-term special leases were granted for larger areas used for agriculture, so in 1955, 55 perpetual leases and 43 special leases were granted. The 1981 amendment to the act extended political and land rights to all residents of 10 years or more. An active debate exists concerning the proportion of residents with tenure and the degree of influence on the board of resident islanders in relation to long-term planning for visitors, and issues relating to the environment, amenity, and global heritage.
Parliamentary representation
New South Wales
As a dependency of the
Colony of New South Wales
The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...
, Lord Howe Island was not represented in parliament until the
1894 New South Wales colonial election
The 1894 New South Wales colonial election was held on 17 July 1894 for all of the 125 seats in the 16th New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in single-member constituencies with a first past the post voting system. Section ...
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...
districts:
As part of the redistribution of electoral districts for the 2023 state election, a proposal was received to move Lord Howe Island back into the electorate of Sydney. However, the
NSW Electoral Commission
The New South Wales Electoral Commission is a statutory agency with responsibility for the administration, organisation, and supervision of elections in New South Wales. It reports to the Government of New South Wales, NSW Government Departmen ...
eventually decided to retain the island within the electorate of Port Macquarie.
Commonwealth
Since 1901, Lord Howe Island has been included in the following
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The term of members of the ...
electoral divisions:
Economy
Kentia palm industry
The first exporter of
palm seed
The Arecaceae is a family (biology), family of Perennial plant, perennial flowering plants in the Monocotyledon, monocot order (biology), order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbing palm, climbers, Shrub, shrubs, tree-like and stemless p ...
s was Ned King, a mountain guide for the Fitzgerald surveys of 1869 and 1876, who sent seed to the Sydney Botanic Gardens. Overseas trade began in the 1880s, when one of the four palms endemic to the island, the kentia palm (''
Howea forsteriana
''Howea forsteriana'', the Kentia palm, thatch palm or palm court palm, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, Arecaceae, endemic to Lord Howe Island in Australia. It is also widely grown on Norfolk Island. It is a relatively slow-g ...
''), which grows naturally in the lowlands, was found to be ideally suited to the fashionable conservatories of the well-to-do in Britain, Europe, and the United States,. The assistance of mainland magistrate, Frank Farnell, was needed to put the business on a sound commercial footing when in 1906, he became company director of the Lord Howe Island Kentia Palm Nursery, whose shareholders included 21 islanders and a Sydney-based seed company. However, the formation of the Lord Howe Island Board of Control was needed in 1913 to resolve outstanding issues.
The kentia palm (known locally as the thatch palm, as it was used to roof the houses of the early settlers) is popular worldwide as decorative palm that grows well both outdoors (in sufficiently warm climates) and indoors; the mild climate of the island has led to the evolution of a palm that can tolerate low light, a dry atmosphere and lowish temperatures — ideal for indoor conditions, particularly in higher-end venues such as hotel lobbies, galleries and large foyers where their high price (thanks to their relative rarity) is no disincentive to their use. Up until the 1980s the palms were only sold as seed but from then onwards only as high quality seedlings. The nursery received certification in 1997 for its high quality management complying with the requirements of
Australian Standard
Standards Australia is a standards organisation established in 1922 and is recognised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Australian government as the primary non-government standards development body in Australia. It is a c ...
AS/NZS ISO 9002.
Seed is gathered from both natural forest and plantations, most collectors being descendants of the original settlers. The seed is then germinated in soilless media and sealed from the atmosphere to prevent contamination. After testing, seedlings are picked, washed (bare-rooted), sanitized and certified, then packed and sealed into insulated containers for export. Nursery profits, in turn, are used in projects that enhance the island's ecosystems. The nursery plans to expand the business to include the curly palm (''Howea belmoreana'') and other native plants of special interest.
By the late 1980s, annual exports had begun to provide a revenue of over A$2 million, constituting the only major industry on the island apart from tourism.
Tourism
Lord Howe Island is known for its geology, birds, plants, and marine life. Popular tourist activities include
scuba diving
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...
, birdwatching,
snorkelling
Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a ...
,
surfing
Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...
,
kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...
, and
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
. To relieve pressure on the small island environment, only 400 tourists are permitted at any one time. The island is reached by plane from
Sydney Airport
Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (colloquially Mascot Airport, Kingsford Smith Airport, or Sydney Airport; ; ) is an international airport in Sydney, Australia, located 8 km (5 mi) south of the Sydney central business district, in the ...
or
Brisbane Airport
Brisbane Airport is the primary international airport serving Brisbane and South East Queensland. The airport services 31 airlines flying to 50 domestic and 29 international destinations, in total amounting to more than 22.7 million passeng ...
in less than two hours. The Permanent Park Preserve declared in 1981 has similar management guidelines to a
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
.
Facilities
With fewer than 800 people on the island at any time, facilities are limited; they include a bakery, butcher, general store, liquor store, restaurants, post office, museum, and information centre, a police officer, a ranger, and an ATM at the bowling club. Stores are shipped to the island fortnightly by the ''Island Trader'' from Port Macquarie. The island has a small four-bed hospital and dispensary. A small botanic garden displays labelled local plants in its grounds. Diesel-generated power is 240 volts AC, complemented by 1.3 MW solar power and 3.7 MWh
battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
. No public transport or mobile phone coverage is available, but public telephones, fax facilities, and internet access are, as well as a local radio station and newsletter, ''The Signal''.
Tourist accommodation ranges from luxury lodges to apartments and villa units. The currency is the Australian dollar, and there are two banks. No camping facilities are on the island and remote-area camping is not permitted. To protect the fragile environment of Ball's Pyramid (which carries the last remaining wild population of the endangered
Lord Howe Island stick insect
''Dryococelus australis'', commonly known as the Lord Howe Island stick insect or tree lobster, is a species of stick insect that lives on the Lord Howe Island Group. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Dryococelus''. Thought to be ex ...
), recreational climbing there is prohibited. No pets are allowed without permission from the board. Islanders use tanked
rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
water, supplemented by bore water for showers and washing clothes.
Activities
As distances to sites of interest are short,
cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
is the main means of transport on the island. Tourist activities include
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
(9-hole),
lawn bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...
,
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
,
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
(including deep-sea game fishing),
yachting
Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called ''yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboats, t ...
,
windsurfing
Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...
,
kitesurfing
Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...
,
kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...
, and boat trips (including glass-bottom tours of the lagoon). Swimming,
snorkelling
Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a ...
, and
scuba diving
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...
are also popular in the lagoon, as well as off Tenth of June Island, a small rocky outcrop in the Admiralty group where an
underwater plateau
An oceanic or submarine plateau is a large, relatively flat elevation that is higher than the surrounding relief with one or more relatively steep sides.
There are 184 oceanic plateaus in the world, covering an area of or about 5.11% of the ...
drops to reveal extensive
gorgonia
''Gorgonia'' is a genus of soft corals, sea fans in the family Gorgoniidae.
Species
The World Register of Marine Species lists these species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, ...
and
black coral
Antipatharians, also known as black corals or thorn corals, are an order of soft deep-water corals. These corals can be recognized by their jet-black or dark brown chitin skeletons, surrounded by the polyps (part of coral that is alive). Antip ...
s growing on the vertical walls. Other diving sites are found off Ball's Pyramid, away, where trenches, caves, and volcanic drop-offs occur.
Bushwalking, natural history tours, talks, and guided walks take place along the many tracks, the most challenging being the eight-hour guided hike to the top of Mount Gower. The island has 11 beaches, and hand-feeding the kingfish (''Seriola lalandi'') and large
wrasse
The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 81 genera, which are divided into 9 subgroups or tribes.
They are typically small, most of them le ...
at Ned's Beach is very popular. Walking tracks cover the island with difficulty graded from 1–5, they include—in the north: Transit Hill 2-hour return, ; Clear Place, 1– to 2-hour return; Stevens Reserve; North Bay, 4-hour return, ; Mount Eliza; Old Gulch, 20-minute return, ; Malabar Hill and Kims Lookout, 3 or 5-hour return, and—in the south: Goat House Cave, 5-hour return, ; Mount Gower, 8-hour return, ; Rocky Run and Boat Harbour; Intermediate Hill, 45-minute return, ; and Little Island, 40-minute return, . Recreational climbers must obtain permission from the Lord Howe Island Board.
Geography
Lord Howe Island is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Lying in the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...
between Australia and New Zealand, the island is east of mainland
Port Macquarie
Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...
, northeast of Sydney, and about from Norfolk Island to its northeast. The island is about long and between wide with an area of . Along the west coast is a semienclosed, sheltered
coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Co ...
lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...
with white sand, the most accessible of the island's 11 beaches.
Both the north and south sections of the island are high ground of relatively untouched forest, in the south comprising two
volcanic mountains
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
,
Mount Lidgbird
Mount Lidgbird, also Mount Ledgbird and Big Hill, is located in the southern section of Lord Howe Island, just north of Mount Gower, from which it is separated by the saddle at the head of Erskine Valley, and has its peak at above sea level.
...
() and
Mount Gower
Mount Gower (also known as Big Hill), is the highest mountain on Australia's subtropical Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. With a height of above sea level, and a relatively flat summit plateau, it stands at the southern end of Lord Howe, jus ...
which, rising to , is the highest point on the island. The two mountains are separated by the
saddle
The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...
at the head of
Erskine Valley
Erskine Valley is a small, steep-sided, forested valley, containing the perennial Erskine Creek with several small waterfalls. About one kilometre long and broad, it lies between Mounts Lidgbird (to the north) and Gower (to the south), on the we ...
. In the north, where most of the population live, high points are Malabar () and Mount Eliza (). Between these two uplands is an area of cleared lowland with some farming, the airstrip, and housing.
The Lord Howe Island Group of islands comprises 28 islands, islets, and rocks. Apart from Lord Howe Island itself, the most notable of these is the pointed rocky islet Balls Pyramid, a eroded volcano about to the southeast, which is uninhabited by humans but bird-colonised. It contains the only known wild population of the
Lord Howe Island stick insect
''Dryococelus australis'', commonly known as the Lord Howe Island stick insect or tree lobster, is a species of stick insect that lives on the Lord Howe Island Group. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Dryococelus''. Thought to be ex ...
, formerly thought to be extinct. To the north is the
Admiralty Group
The Admiralty Group of islets consists of eight rocky outcrops within 2 km of the north of Lord Howe Island. From south to north, these are:
#Soldier’s Cap
#Sugarloaf
#South Island
#Noddy
#Roach Island
#Tenth of June
#North Rock
#Flat Rock
...
, a cluster of seven small, uninhabited islands. Just off the east coast is Mutton Bird Island, and in the lagoon is the Blackburn (Rabbit) Island.
Geological origins
Lord Howe Island is the highly eroded remains of a 7-million-year-old
shield volcano
A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...
, the product of eruptions that lasted for about 500,000 years. It is one of a chain of islands that occur on the western rim of an undersea shelf, the
Lord Howe Rise
The Lord Howe Rise is a deep sea plateau which extends from south west of New Caledonia to the Challenger Plateau, west of New Zealand in the south west of the Pacific Ocean. To its west is the Tasman Basin and to the east is the New Caledonia ...
, which is long and wide extending from New Zealand to the west of New Caledonia and consisting of continental rocks that separated from the Australian plate 60 to 80 million years ago to form a new crust in the deep
Tasman Basin
Tasman most often refers to Abel Tasman (1603–1659), Dutch explorer.
Tasman may also refer to:
Animals and plants
* Tasman booby
* Tasman flax-lily
* Tasman parakeet (disambiguation)
* Tasman starling
* Tasman whale
People
* Tasman ( ...
. The shelf is part of
Zealandia
Zealandia (pronounced ), also known as (Māori) or Tasmantis, is an almost entirely submerged mass of continental crust that subsided after breaking away from Gondwanaland 83–79 million years ago.Gurnis, M., Hall, C.E., and Lavier, L.L., ...
, a
microcontinent
Continental crustal fragments, partly synonymous with microcontinents, are pieces of continents that have broken off from main continental masses to form distinct islands that are often several hundred kilometers from their place of origin.
Caus ...
nearly half the size of Australia that gradually submerged after breaking away from the
Gondwana
Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...
n supercontinent. The
Lord Howe Seamount Chain
The Lord Howe Seamount Chain formed during the Miocene. It features many coral-capped guyots and is one of the two parallel seamount chains alongside the east coast of Australia; the Lord Howe and Tasmantid seamount chains both run north-south t ...
is defined by coral-capped
guyot
In marine geology, a guyot (pronounced ), also known as a tablemount, is an isolated underwater volcanic mountain ( seamount) with a flat top more than below the surface of the sea. The diameters of these flat summits can exceed .Middleton ( away) and
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
( away) reefs of the
Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Park Reserve
]
]
Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Park Reserve is a former marine protected area consisting of waters around Elizabeth and Middleton reefs located at the south-eastern end of the Coral Sea Islands, an Australian territory in ...
. This chain of nine volcanic peaks was probably produced by the northward movement of the
Indo-Australian Plate
The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes the continent of Australia and the surrounding ocean and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and the adjacent waters. It was formed by the fusion of the Indian an ...
over a stationary hotspot, so the oldest guyots were the first formed and most northerly as the plate moved northward at a rate of per year (see
plate tectonics
Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...
).
Basalts and calcarenite
Two periods of volcanic activity produced the major features of the island. The first about 6.9 million years (Mya) ago produced the northern and central hills, while the younger and highly eroded Mount Gower and Mount Lidgbird were produced about 6.3 Mya by successive
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
(an extrusive
igneous rock
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main The three types of rocks, rock types, the others being Sedimentary rock, sedimentary and metamorphic rock, metamorphic. Igneous rock ...
)
lava flow
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or und ...
s that once filled a large volcanic
caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
(crater) and can now be seen as horizontal basalt strata on mountain cliffs (at Malabar and Mount Gower) occasionally interspersed with
dikes
Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to:
General uses
* Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian"
* Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment
* Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice
* Dikes, ...
(vertical lava intrusions). Geological
pyroclastic
Pyroclastic rocks (derived from the el, πῦρ, links=no, meaning fire; and , meaning broken) are clastic rocks composed of rock fragments produced and ejected by explosive volcanic eruptions. The individual rock fragments are known as pyroc ...
remnants of volcanic eruption can be seen on the Roach Island (where the oldest rocks occur) and Boat Harbour as
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...
(ash),
breccia
Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix.
The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of di ...
(with angular blocks), and
agglomerate
Agglomerate (from the Latin ''agglomerare'' meaning "to form into a ball") is a coarse accumulation of large blocks of volcanic material that contains at least 75% bombs. Volcanic bombs differ from volcanic blocks in that their shape records flui ...
(rounded 'bombs'). Offshore on the Lord Howe Rise, water depths reach falling to to the west of the rise. From the dimensions of the rock on which the island stands, the island has been calculated to erode to 1/40th of its original size.
Rocks and land at the foot of these mountains is
calcarenite
Calcarenite is a type of limestone that is composed predominantly, more than 50 percent, of detrital (transported) sand-size (0.0625 to 2 mm in diameter), carbonate grains. The grains consist of sand-size grains of either corals, shells, ooi ...
, a coral sand, blown inland during the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
between 130,000 and 20,000 years ago and cemented into stratified layers by water percolation. In this rock are fossils of bird bones and eggs, land and marine snails, and the extinct giant horned turtle (''
Meiolania
''Meiolania'' ("small roamer") is an extinct genus of meiolaniid stem-turtle native to Australasia from the Middle Miocene to Late Pleistocene and possibly Holocene. It is best known from fossils found on Lord Howe Island, though fossils are know ...
platyceps'') which is not closely related to any living kind of turtle. The crescent of the island protects a coral reef and lagoon; the barrier reef, at 31°30'S, is the most southerly in the world. Beach sands, rather than consisting of
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
grains derived from
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
, as on the mainland, are made of fragments of
shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
, coral, and
coralline algae
Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of re ...
, together with basalt grains, and basaltic minerals such as black
diopside
Diopside is a monoclinic pyroxene mineral with composition . It forms complete solid solution series with hedenbergite () and augite, and partial solid solutions with orthopyroxene and pigeonite. It forms variably colored, but typically dull ...
and green
olivine
The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, it is a common mineral in Earth's subsurface, but weathers quickl ...
. The lowland consists of
alluvial
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...
soils.
The island continues to erode rapidly and is expected to be fully submerged within 200,000 years, taking an appearance akin to the Middleton and Elizabeth Reefs.
Climate
Lord Howe Island has a
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(''Cfa'' under the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
).
In general, the summers are warm and humid with erratic rainfall, but occasionally heavy, while in winter it is very mild with rainfall more or less uniform. There is a gradual transition from summer to winter conditions and vice versa. Winds are frequent and salt-laden, being moderate easterlies in the summer and fresh to strong westerlies in the winter. July is the windiest month, and the winter months are subject to frequent gales and strong winds. The island has 67.8 clear days, annually.
Storms and occasional cyclones also affect the island. Rainfall records are maintained in the north, where rainfall is less than in the frequently cloud-shrouded mountains of the south. Wide variation in rainfall can occur from year to year. July and August are the coldest months with average minimum temperatures around and no frost. Average maximum temperatures range from in the winter to in the summer. The humidity averages in the 60–70% range year round, becoming more noticeable on warmer summer days than in the cooler winter months.
The average temperature of the sea ranges from in July, August, and September to in March.
Flora and fauna
Plants
Lord Howe Island is a distinct terrestrial
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
Australasian realm
The Australasian realm is a biogeographic realm that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua New Guinea and ...
and shares many biotic affinities with Australia,
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
, and
New Caledonia
)
, anthem = ""
, image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of New Caledonia
, map_caption = Location of New Caledonia
, mapsize = 290px
, subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
. In geological terms at 7 million years old, Lord Howe Island is relatively young and was never part of any continent, its flora and fauna colonising the island from across the sea, carried by wind,
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
, or birds, possibly assisted at a geological time when other islands were exposed, enabling
island hopping
Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II.
The key idea is to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to captu ...
. Nevertheless, it has been sufficiently remote for long enough to evolve
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
species.
The high degree of endemism is emphasised by the presence of five endemic genera: ''
Negria
''Negria'' is a plant genus in the family Gesneriaceae. Its only species is ''Negria rhabdothamnoides'', commonly known as the pumpkin tree. It is related to '' Fieldia'' (syn. ''Lenbrassia'') and '' Depanthus''.
Description
The pumpkin tree ...
'', ''
Lordhowea ''Lordhowea'' is a generic name that may refer to:
* Lordhowea (plant), ''Lordhowea'' (plant), a genus of plants native to Australia and Lord Howe Island
* a monotypic genus of spiders with the sole species ''Lordhowea nesiota'', native to Australi ...
'', ''
Howea
''Howea'' is a genus of two Arecaceae, palms, ''Howea belmoreana, H. belmoreana'' and ''Howea forsteriana, H. forsteriana'', both endemic to Lord Howe Island, Australia. ''H. forsteriana'' in particular is commonly grown as an indoor plant in the ...
'', ''
Lepidorrhachis
''Lepidorrhachis'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family restricted to Lord Howe Island. The genus name for the single, monoecious species, ''Lepidorrhachis mooreana'', comes from two Greek word meaning "scale" and "rachis" ...
'', and ''
Hedyscepe
''Hedyscepe canterburyana'', the big mountain palm or umbrella palm, is the sole species in the genus ''Hedyscepe'' of the family Arecaceae. It is endemic to Lord Howe Island, Australia and is threatened by habitat loss. It is a solitary palm wit ...
''. Island plants are similar to those of Norfolk Island, the two islands sharing some endemic species, for example, the critically endangered species of creeping vine ''
Calystegia affinis
''Calystegia affinis'' is a critically endangered species of climbing or creeping vine in the plant family Convolvulaceae. It is endemic to Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. In 2003 only about 45 mature plants were known, with about 40 of tho ...
''. The combined flora of these two islands is more closely related to that of New Zealand and
New Caledonia
)
, anthem = ""
, image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of New Caledonia
, map_caption = Location of New Caledonia
, mapsize = 290px
, subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
than to that of Australia. Also, a small but clear link exists with the plants of
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
. The closest mainland affinities are with the vegetation of subtropical southeastern
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
. A link with
Gondwanaland
Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...
is indicated by the presence of endemic species such as the wedding lily (''
Dietes robinsoniana
''Dietes robinsoniana'', the Lord Howe wedding lily, is found naturally only on Lord Howe Island. It grows on cliff faces, often in exposed situations. Found also on forest margins and the tops of Mount Gower and Mount Lidgbird and behind the bea ...
'') whose only living relatives occur in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
.
The flora of the island is relatively untouched, with a large number of rare plants, 44% being
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the island. With a diversity of conditions ranging from valleys, to ridges, plains, and misty mountain tops, habitat is available for a wide range of plant communities, which have been comprehensively analysed and mapped. Many of the island's unique plants grow on or around the mountain summits, where the height has allowed the development of a true
cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...
and many different microhabitats, from sea level to the summits. With the increased humidity brought by the clouds on
Mount Gower
Mount Gower (also known as Big Hill), is the highest mountain on Australia's subtropical Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. With a height of above sea level, and a relatively flat summit plateau, it stands at the southern end of Lord Howe, jus ...
and the other mountain tops, the range of endemic plants include
moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
es,
fern
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...
s and flowering plants.
One of the best-known plant genera endemic to Lord Howe Island is ''
Howea
''Howea'' is a genus of two Arecaceae, palms, ''Howea belmoreana, H. belmoreana'' and ''Howea forsteriana, H. forsteriana'', both endemic to Lord Howe Island, Australia. ''H. forsteriana'' in particular is commonly grown as an indoor plant in the ...
'', an endemic
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of palms (
Arecaceae
The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...
) that are commonly known as kentia palms and are popular houseplants. Mosses include
Spiridens muelleri
''Spiridens muelleri'' is a species of moss found on Lord Howe Island. It is the only member of the genus ''Spiridens'' known to occur in Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign cou ...
. There are 57 species of
fern
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...
s, of which 25 are endemic: they are most abundant in the moist environments of the southern island, especially the higher parts of Mount Gower, perhaps the most apparent being the four endemic tree ferns in the genus ''
Cyathea
''Cyathea'' is a genus of tree ferns, the type genus of the fern order Cyatheales.
The genus name ''Cyathea'' is derived from the Greek ''kyatheion'', meaning "little cup", and refers to the cup-shaped sori on the underside of the fronds.
Des ...
'' that occur on the southern mountains. ''
Hedyscepe
''Hedyscepe canterburyana'', the big mountain palm or umbrella palm, is the sole species in the genus ''Hedyscepe'' of the family Arecaceae. It is endemic to Lord Howe Island, Australia and is threatened by habitat loss. It is a solitary palm wit ...
'' and ''
Lepidorrhachis
''Lepidorrhachis'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family restricted to Lord Howe Island. The genus name for the single, monoecious species, ''Lepidorrhachis mooreana'', comes from two Greek word meaning "scale" and "rachis" ...
'' are the other two palm genera which are also endemic to the island.
Since the rodent eradication program, researchers have observed an increase in the amount of growth and seeds, especially of the "larger, fleshy, fruited plants", previously eaten by rats. As the
understorey
In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...
grows thicker, this in turn will provide habitat for small animals such as snails and insects, which in turn provide food for the birds.
Communities and special plants
Plant communities have been classified into nine categories: lowland subtropical rainforest, submontane rainforest, cloud-forest and scrub, lowland swamp forest, mangrove scrub and seagrass, coastal scrub and cliff vegetation, inland scrub and herbland, offshore island vegetation, shoreline and beach vegetation, and disturbed vegetation.
Several plants are immediately evident to the visitor. Banyan (''
Ficus macrophylla
''Ficus macrophylla'', commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the family Moraceae native to eastern Australia, from the Wide Bay–Burnett region in the north to the Illawarra in New So ...
'' subsp. ''columnaris'') is a remarkable tree with a buttressed trunk and pendulous aerial roots; it can be seen on the track to Clear Place and near Ned's Beach. Pandanus tree (''
Pandanus
''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. The greatest number of species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. Common names ...
forsteri'') has spectacular teepee-like prop roots and pineapple-like fruits that are orange-red when mature, the tough leaves being used for basketry. It occurs in damp areas such as creek beds, and fine specimens can be seen along the Boat Harbour track. Ten species of orchids are on the island, the most noticeable being the bush orchid ('' Dendrobium macropus ''subsp.'' howeanum'') on lowland trees and rocks, bearing cream flowers from August to September. Other prominent flowering plants in the summer include, on the mountain slopes, the whiskery red flowers of mountain rose (''
Metrosideros nervulosa
''Metrosideros nervulosa'', commonly known as the mountain rose, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It occurs in shrublan ...
'' and ''
Metrosideros sclerocarpa
''Metrosideros sclerocarpa'', commonly known as the mountain rose, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae.
Description
It is a small tree, growing to 10 m in height. The leathery ovate to elliptic leaves are 30–65 mm long and ...
''), the massed, small, yellow flowers of corokia (''
Corokia carpodetoides
'' Corokia carpodetoides'', simply known locally as corokia, is a flowering plant in the Argophyllaceae family. The specific epithet derives from a resemblance to the genus ''Carpodetus'', with the addition of the Latin suffix ''-oides'' (“rese ...
''), orange, plump flowers of pumpkin tree (''
Negria
''Negria'' is a plant genus in the family Gesneriaceae. Its only species is ''Negria rhabdothamnoides'', commonly known as the pumpkin tree. It is related to '' Fieldia'' (syn. ''Lenbrassia'') and '' Depanthus''.
Description
The pumpkin tree ...
rhabdothamnoides''), and white spikes of Fitzgerald tree (''
Dracophyllum fitzgeraldii
''Dracophyllum fitzgeraldii'', commonly known as the Fitzgeraldii tree or Fitzgerald tree, is a flowering plant in the family Ericaceae. It is endemic to Lord Howe Island, though its closest relatives are species native to northern Queensland and ...
''). The kava bush has large, aromatic, heart-shaped leaves. After heavy rain, the endemic glowing
mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...
''
Mycena chlorophanos
''Mycena'' is a large genus of small saprotrophic mushrooms that are rarely more than a few centimeters in width. They are characterized by a white spore print, a small conical or bell-shaped cap, and a thin fragile stem. Most are gray or br ...
'', and ''
Omphalotus nidiformis
''Omphalotus nidiformis'', or ghost fungus, is a gilled basidiomycete mushroom most notable for its bioluminescent properties. It is known to be found primarily in southern Australia and Tasmania, but was reported from India in 2012 and 2018. T ...
'', can be found in the palm forests.
The palms are the signature plants of the island as the kentia and curly palms especially dominate the landscape in many places, the kentia being of special economic importance. All four species are endemic to the island, often occurring in dense, pure stands, the one that has proved such a worldwide success as an indoor plant being the kentia or thatch palm (''Howea forsteriana''). This is a lowland palm with drooping leaflets and seed branches in 'hands' of three to five, while the curly palm (''H. belmoreana''), which occurs on slightly higher ground, has upwardly directed leaflets and solitary 'hands'. Natural hybrids between these species occur on the island and a mature specimen of one is growing in the island nursery. On the mountain sides higher than about 350 m, the big mountain palm (''
Hedyscepe
''Hedyscepe canterburyana'', the big mountain palm or umbrella palm, is the sole species in the genus ''Hedyscepe'' of the family Arecaceae. It is endemic to Lord Howe Island, Australia and is threatened by habitat loss. It is a solitary palm wit ...
canterburyana'') occurs; it has large, golf ball-sized fruits, while the little mountain palm (''
Lepidorrhachis
''Lepidorrhachis'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family restricted to Lord Howe Island. The genus name for the single, monoecious species, ''Lepidorrhachis mooreana'', comes from two Greek word meaning "scale" and "rachis" ...
mooreana'') has marble-sized fruits and is only found on the mountain summits.
=Images of native flora
=
Animals
No snakes nor highly venomous or stinging insects, animals, or plants occur, and no dangerous daytime sharks are found off the beaches, although tiger sharks have been reported on the cliff side of the island.
Birds
A total of 202 different birds have been recorded on the island. Eighteen species of land birds breed on the island and many more migratory species occur on the island and its adjacent islets, many tame enough that humans can get quite close. The island has been identified by
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
as an
endemic bird area An Endemic Bird Area (EBA) is an area of land identified by BirdLife International as being important for habitat-based bird conservation because it contains the habitats of restricted-range bird species (''see below for definition''), which are the ...
, and the Permanent Park Preserve as an
important bird area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
, because it supports the entire population of
Lord Howe woodhen
The Lord Howe woodhen (''Hypotaenidia sylvestris'') also known as the Lord Howe Island woodhen or Lord Howe (Island) rail, is a flightless bird of the rail family, (Rallidae). It is endemic to Lord Howe Island off the Australian coast. It is curr ...
s, most of the breeding population of providence petrels, over 1% of the world population of another five seabird species, and the whole populations of three endemic subspecies.
Fourteen species of
seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...
s breed on the island.
Red-tailed tropicbird
The red-tailed tropicbird (''Phaethon rubricauda'') is a seabird native to tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. One of three closely related species of tropicbird (Phaethontidae), it was described by Pieter Boddaert in 1783. Superfic ...
s can be seen in large numbers circling the Malabar cliffs, where they perform acrobatic courting rituals. Between August and May, thousands of flesh-footed and
wedge-tailed shearwater
The wedge-tailed shearwater (''Ardenna pacifica'') is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It is one of the shearwater species that is sometimes referred to as a muttonbird, like the sooty shearwater of New Zealand and ...
s return to the island at dusk each day. From the Little Island Track between March and November, one of the world's rarest birds, the providence petrel, also performs courtship displays during winter breeding, and it is extremely tame. The island was its only breeding location for many years after the breeding colony on Norfolk Island was exterminated in the late 19th century, though a small population persists on the adjacent
Phillip Island
Phillip Island (Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explorer ...
. The
Kermadec petrel
The Kermadec petrel (''Pterodroma neglecta'') is a species of gadfly petrel in the family Procellariidae. It is 38 cm long with a wingspan of 100 cm. It is polymorphic, with light, dark and intermediate morphs known. It eats squid, fis ...
was discovered breeding on Mount Gower in 1914 by ornithologist Roy Bell while collecting specimens for
Gregory Mathews
Gregory Macalister Mathews Order of the British Empire, CBE FRSE FZS FLS (10 September 1876 – 27 March 1949) was an Australian-born amateur ornithologist who spent most of his later life in England.
Life
He was born in Biamble, New South Wal ...
and the
black-winged petrel
The black-winged petrel (''Pterodroma nigripennis'') is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae. It breeds on a number of oceanic islands in the tropical and subtropical East Pacific Ocean and spends the rest of the year at sea.
Descr ...
was only confirmed as a breeder in 1971; its numbers have increased following the elimination of
feral cat
A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...
s from the island.
The flesh-footed shearwater, which breeds in large numbers on the main island in spring-autumn, once had its chicks harvested for food by the islanders. The wedge-tailed and
little shearwater
The little shearwater (''Puffinus assimilis'') is a small shearwater in the petrel family Procellariidae. Despite the generic name, it is unrelated to the puffins, which are auks, the only similarity being that they are both burrow-nesting seab ...
s breed on the main island and surrounding islets, though only a small number of the latter species can be found on the main island. Breeding
white-bellied storm petrel
The white-bellied storm petrel (''Fregetta grallaria'') is a species of seabird in the family Oceanitidae. It is found in Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Maldives, Namibia, New ...
s were another discovery by Roy Bell. Masked boobies are the largest seabirds breeding on Lord Howe and can be seen nesting and gliding along the sea cliffs at Mutton Bird Point all year round.
Sooty tern
The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone.
Taxonomy
The sooty tern was described by Carl Linnaeu ...
s can be seen on the main island at Ned's and Middle Beaches, North Bay, and Blinkey Beach; the most numerous of the island's breeding seabirds, their eggs were formerly harvested for food.
Common
Common may refer to:
Places
* Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
* Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts
* Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts
* Clapham Common, originally com ...
and black noddies build nests in trees and bushes, while
white tern
The white tern or common white tern (''Gygis alba'') is a small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world. It is sometimes known as the fairy tern, although this name is potentially confusing as it is also the common name of '' Sternu ...
s lay their single eggs precariously in a slight depression on a tree branch, and grey ternlets lay their eggs in cliff hollows.
Three endemic
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
are the
Lord Howe golden whistler
The Lord Howe golden whistler (''Pachycephala pectoralis contempta''), also known as the Lord Howe whistler or Lord Howe Island golden whistler, and locally as the “robin” or “yellow robin”, is a small bird in the whistler family, Pachy ...
,
Lord Howe silvereye
The Lord Howe silvereye (''Zosterops lateralis tephropleurus''), also known as the Lord Howe white-eye, Lord Howe Island white-eye or, locally, as the "Little Grinnell", is a small bird in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae. It is a subspecies o ...
, and
Lord Howe currawong
The Lord Howe currawong (''Strepera graculina crissalis''), Lord Howe Island currawong or Lord Howe pied currawong, is a large and mainly black passerine bird in the family Artamidae. It is endemism, endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea ...
. The iconic endemic rail, the flightless
Lord Howe woodhen
The Lord Howe woodhen (''Hypotaenidia sylvestris'') also known as the Lord Howe Island woodhen or Lord Howe (Island) rail, is a flightless bird of the rail family, (Rallidae). It is endemic to Lord Howe Island off the Australian coast. It is curr ...
, is the only surviving member of its genus; its ancestors could fly, but with no predators and plenty of food on the island, this ability was lost. This made it easy prey for islanders and feral animals, so by the 1970s, the population was less than 30 birds. From 1978 to 1984, feral animals were removed and birds were raised in captivity to be successfully reintroduced to the wild. The population is now relatively safe and stable.
List of endemic birds
*
Lord Howe currawong
The Lord Howe currawong (''Strepera graculina crissalis''), Lord Howe Island currawong or Lord Howe pied currawong, is a large and mainly black passerine bird in the family Artamidae. It is endemism, endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea ...
, ''Strepera graculina crissalis'' (vulnerable, subspecies of pied currawong)
*
Lord Howe golden whistler
The Lord Howe golden whistler (''Pachycephala pectoralis contempta''), also known as the Lord Howe whistler or Lord Howe Island golden whistler, and locally as the “robin” or “yellow robin”, is a small bird in the whistler family, Pachy ...
, ''Pachycephala pectoralis contempta'' (least concern, subspecies of golden whistler)
*
Lord Howe silvereye
The Lord Howe silvereye (''Zosterops lateralis tephropleurus''), also known as the Lord Howe white-eye, Lord Howe Island white-eye or, locally, as the "Little Grinnell", is a small bird in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae. It is a subspecies o ...
, ''Zosterops lateralis tephropleurus'' (vulnerable, subspecies of silvereye)
*
Robust white-eye
The robust white-eye (''Zosterops strenuus''), also known as the Lord Howe white-eye or robust silvereye and locally as the "big grinnell", is an extinct species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It was Endemism, endemic to the lowland forests ...
, ''Zosterops strenuus'' (extinct)
*
Lord Howe gerygone
The Lord Howe gerygone or Lord Howe gerygone flyeater (''Gerygone insularis'') was a small bird in the family (biology), family Acanthizidae, brown and greyish in color. Its head was brown apart from a pale grey eye-ring and a grey throat and ch ...
, ''Gerygone insularis'' (extinct)
*
Lord Howe fantail
The Lord Howe fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa cervina''), also known as the Lord Howe Island fantail or fawn-breasted fantail, was a small bird in the fantail family, Rhipiduridae. It is an extinct subspecies of the New Zealand fantail (''Rhipid ...
, ''Rhiphidura fuliginosa cervina'' (extinct, subspecies of NZ fantail)
*
Lord Howe starling
The Tasman starling (''Aplonis fusca'') was described in 1836 by John Gould as a species which occurred on both Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. In 1928 Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews recognized that the plumage of the race from Lor ...
Lord Howe thrush
The Lord Howe thrush (''Turdus poliocephalus vinitinctus''), also known as the vinous-tinted thrush or vinous-tinted blackbird, is an extinct subspecies of the island thrush (''Turdus poliocephalus''). It was endemic to Lord Howe Island, an Austr ...
, ''Turdus poliocephalus vinitinctus'' (extinct, subspecies of Island thrush)
*
Lord Howe parakeet
The Lord Howe parakeet (''Cyanoramphus subflavescens''), also known as the Lord Howe red-fronted parakeet, is an extinct parrot endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, part of New South Wales, Australia. It was described as full species ...
, ''Cyanoramphus subflavescens'' (extinct)
*
Lord Howe boobook
The Lord Howe boobook (''Ninox novaeseelandiae albaria''), also known as the Lord Howe morepork, was a bird in the true owl family endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, part of New South Wales, Australia. It is an extinct and little-know ...
, ''Ninox novaeseelandiae albaria'' (extinct)
*
Lord Howe woodhen
The Lord Howe woodhen (''Hypotaenidia sylvestris'') also known as the Lord Howe Island woodhen or Lord Howe (Island) rail, is a flightless bird of the rail family, (Rallidae). It is endemic to Lord Howe Island off the Australian coast. It is curr ...
, ''Gallirallus sylvestris'' (endangered)
*
Lord Howe swamphen
The white swamphen (''Porphyrio albus''), also known as the Lord Howe swamphen, Lord Howe gallinule or white gallinule, is an extinct species of Rallidae, rail which lived on Lord Howe Island, east of Australia. It was first encountered when t ...
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
remains on the islands, the
large forest bat
The large forest bat (''Vespadelus darlingtoni'') is a common vesper bat found in southeast Australia, Tasmania, and Lord Howe Island.
Taxonomy
The first description was published by G. M. Allen in 1933. The specimen described was obtained by ...
. The endemic
Lord Howe long-eared bat
The Lord Howe long-eared bat (''Nyctophilus howensis'') was a vespertilionid bat known only by a single specimen, a skull found on Lord Howe Island in 1972. A mammalian insectivorous species resembling the long-eared ''Nyctophilus'', with an elo ...
is known only from a skull and is now presumed extinct, possibly the result of the introduction of
ship rat
The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...
s.
Two terrestrial reptiles are native to the island group: the
Lord Howe Island skink
The Lord Howe Island skink (''Oligosoma lichenigerum'') is a part of the native Australian reptiles’ classification. The Lord Howe Island Skink is a species of skink in the family Scincidae, located on Australia's Norfolk Island and Lord Howe ...
bleating tree frog
The bleating tree frog (''Litoria dentata''), also known as Keferstein's tree frog, is a species of tree frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. This frog is native to coastal eastern Australia, from south-eastern Queensland, to around Eden, New So ...
have been accidentally introduced from the Australian mainland. During the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
the giant terrestrial horned
turtle
Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...
''
Meiolania
''Meiolania'' ("small roamer") is an extinct genus of meiolaniid stem-turtle native to Australasia from the Middle Miocene to Late Pleistocene and possibly Holocene. It is best known from fossils found on Lord Howe Island, though fossils are know ...
platyceps'' was endemic to the island, but this is currently thought to have gone extinct before human occupation as a result of postglacial sea-level rise.
Invertebrates
The
Lord Howe Island stick insect
''Dryococelus australis'', commonly known as the Lord Howe Island stick insect or tree lobster, is a species of stick insect that lives on the Lord Howe Island Group. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Dryococelus''. Thought to be ex ...
disappeared from the main island soon after the accidental introduction of rats when the SS ''Makambo'' ran aground near Ned's Beach on 15 June 1918. In 2001, a tiny population was discovered in a single ''
Melaleuca howeana
''Melaleuca howeana'', commonly known as tea tree, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the Lord Howe Island group, off the east coast of Australia. It is common in exposed areas, on cliffs and ridges, occasionally fo ...
'' shrub on the slopes of Ball's Pyramid, has been successfully bred in captivity, and is nearing re-introduction to the main island. The Lord Howe stag beetle is a colourful endemic beetle seen during summers. Another endemic invertebrate, the
Lord Howe flax snail
The Lord Howe flax snail or the Lord Howe placostylus, scientific name ''Placostylus bivaricosus'', is a species of large air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Bothriembryontidae. MolluscaBase eds. (20 ...
(or Lord Howe ''Placostylus''), has also been affected by the introduction of rats. Once common, the species is now endangered and a captive-breeding program is underway to save the snail from extinction. An
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
species that is likely to have become extinct due to human-introduced rats was the large
rove beetle
The rove beetles are a family (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra (wing covers) that typically leave more than half of their abdominal segments exposed. With roughly 63,000 species in thousands of genera, the ...
Marine environments are near-pristine with a mixtures of temperate, subtropical, and tropical species derived from cool-temperate ocean currents in the winter and the warm
East Australian Current
The East Australian Current (EAC) is a warm, southward, western boundary current that is formed from the South Equatorial Current (SEC) crossing the Coral Sea and reaching the eastern coast of Australia. At around 15° S near the Australian coa ...
, which flows from the
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
, in summer. Of the 490 fish species recorded, 13 are endemic and 60% are tropical. The main angling fish are yellowtail kingfish and
New Zealand bluefish
''Girella cyanea'', also known as the blue drummer or Australian bluefish, is a species of sea chub native to inshore waters, around depth, from Australia to New Zealand and the Kermadec Islands. Sightings were first recorded in 1881 but the spec ...
, while game fish include marlin, tuna, and giant kingfish called "greenbacks". Over 80 species of corals occur in the reefs surrounding the islands. Australian underwater photographer
Neville Coleman
Neville Coleman OAM (1938 - 4 May 2012) was an Australian naturalist, underwater nature photographer, writer, publisher and educator.
Coleman started scuba diving in 1963, exploring Sydney Harbour. Later he joined a scientific study group an ...
has photographed various
nudibranch
Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs which shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have been given colourful nicknames to matc ...
s at Lord Howe Island.
Various species of
cetacean
Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel them ...
s inhabit or migrate through the waters in vicinity, but very little about their biology in the area is known due to lack of studies and sighting efforts caused from locational conditions.
Bottlenose dolphin
Bottlenose dolphins are aquatic mammals in the genus ''Tursiops.'' They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus definitively contains two species: the common ...
s are the most commonly observed and are the only species confirmed to be seasonal or yearly residents, while some other
dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
species have also been observed.
Humpback whale
The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...
s are the only large whales showing slow but steady recoveries as their numbers annually migrating past the island of Lord Howe are much smaller than those migrating along Australian continent.
Historically, migratory whales such as
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...
,
fin
A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...
, and
sei whale
The sei whale ( , ; ''Balaenoptera borealis'') is a baleen whale, the third-largest rorqual after the blue whale and the fin whale. It inhabits most oceans and adjoining seas, and prefers deep offshore waters. It avoids polar and tropical ...
s were very abundant in the island waters, but were severely reduced in numbers to near-extinction by commercial and illegal hunts, including the mass illegal hunts by the Soviet Union and Japan in the 1960s to 1970s. Southern right and
sperm whale
The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...
s were most severely hunted among these, hence the area was called the Middle Ground by whalers.Daphne D.. 2006. Lord Howe Island Rising. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Tower Books. . Retrieved 18 December. 2014 These two were likely once seasonal residents around the island, where right whales prefer sheltered, very shallow bays, while sperm whales mainly inhabit deep waters.
Conservation
About 10% of Lord Howe Island's forests has been cleared for agriculture, and another 20% has been disturbed, mostly by domestic cattle and feral sheep, goats, and pigs. As a result, 70% of the island remains relatively untouched, with a variety of plants and animals, many of which are endemic, and some of which are rare or threatened. Two species of plants, nine terrestrial birds, one bat, and at least four invertebrates have become extinct since 1778. Endemism at the
generic
Generic or generics may refer to:
In business
* Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark
* Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...
level includes the palms ''
Howea
''Howea'' is a genus of two Arecaceae, palms, ''Howea belmoreana, H. belmoreana'' and ''Howea forsteriana, H. forsteriana'', both endemic to Lord Howe Island, Australia. ''H. forsteriana'' in particular is commonly grown as an indoor plant in the ...
'', ''
Hedyscepe
''Hedyscepe canterburyana'', the big mountain palm or umbrella palm, is the sole species in the genus ''Hedyscepe'' of the family Arecaceae. It is endemic to Lord Howe Island, Australia and is threatened by habitat loss. It is a solitary palm wit ...
'' and ''
Lepidorrhachis
''Lepidorrhachis'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family restricted to Lord Howe Island. The genus name for the single, monoecious species, ''Lepidorrhachis mooreana'', comes from two Greek word meaning "scale" and "rachis" ...
'', a woody daisy ''
Lordhowea ''Lordhowea'' is a generic name that may refer to:
* Lordhowea (plant), ''Lordhowea'' (plant), a genus of plants native to Australia and Lord Howe Island
* a monotypic genus of spiders with the sole species ''Lordhowea nesiota'', native to Australi ...
'', the tree ''
Negria
''Negria'' is a plant genus in the family Gesneriaceae. Its only species is ''Negria rhabdothamnoides'', commonly known as the pumpkin tree. It is related to '' Fieldia'' (syn. ''Lenbrassia'') and '' Depanthus''.
Description
The pumpkin tree ...
isopod
Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...
hemipteran
Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from to around ...
bug '' Howeria'', and a cricket '' Howeta''.
The Lord Howe Island Board instigated an extensive biological and environmental survey (published in 1974), which has guided the island conservation program. In 1981, the Lord Howe Island Amendment Act proclaimed a "Permanent Park Preserve" over the north and south ends of the island. Administration of the preserve was outlined in a management plan for the sustainable development of the island prepared by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, which has a ranger stationed on the island. The island was cited under the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1982.
Offshore environmental assets are protected by the
Lord Howe Island Marine Park
Lord Howe Island Marine Park is the site of Australia's and the world's most southern coral reef ecosystem. The island is 10 km in length, 2 km wide and consists of a large lagoonal reef system along its leeward side, with 28 small isl ...
. This consists of a state marine park managed by the Marine Parks Authority of New South Wales in the waters out to three nautical miles around the island and including Ball's Pyramid. It also includes a Commonwealth Marine Park extending from 3 to 12 nautical miles out and managed by the federal
Department of the Environment and Heritage
The Department of the Environment and Heritage was an Australian government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. ...
. In total the Marine Park covers about .
Feral animals and plants
Pigs and goats were released on the island as potential food sources in the early 1800s; the goats destroyed shrubs and grasses used as nesting sites and the pigs ate eggs and chicks and disturbed the land by rooting for food. Several birds have become extinct on the island since the arrival of humans. The first round of extinctions included the
Lord Howe swamphen
The white swamphen (''Porphyrio albus''), also known as the Lord Howe swamphen, Lord Howe gallinule or white gallinule, is an extinct species of Rallidae, rail which lived on Lord Howe Island, east of Australia. It was first encountered when t ...
or white gallinule, the
white-throated pigeon
The metallic pigeon, (''Columba vitiensis'') also known as white-throated pigeon is a medium-sized, up to 37 cm long, bird in the family Columbidae.
Identification
The adult has an iridescent purple and green crown, black wing and uppertail ...
, the
red-crowned parakeet
The red-crowned parakeet (''Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae''), also known as red-fronted parakeet and by its Māori name of kākāriki,Parr, M., Juniper, T., D'Silva, C., Powell, D., Johnston, D., Franklin, K., & Restall, R. (2010). Parrots: A Guid ...
, and the
Tasman booby
The masked booby (''Sula dactylatra''), also called the masked gannet or the blue-faced booby, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. First described by the French naturalist René-Primevère Lesson in 1831, the masked boo ...
, which were eliminated by visitors and settlers during the 19th century, either from overhunting for food or protection of crops. Black rats were released from provisioning whaling ships in the 1840s and mice from Norfolk Island in 1860. In 1918, the
black rat
The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...
was accidentally introduced with the shipwreck of the S.S. ''Makambo'', which ran aground at Ned's Beach. This triggered a second wave of extinctions, including the
vinous-tinted thrush
The Lord Howe thrush (''Turdus poliocephalus vinitinctus''), also known as the vinous-tinted thrush or vinous-tinted blackbird, is an extinct subspecies of the island thrush (''Turdus poliocephalus''). It was endemic to Lord Howe Island, an Austr ...
, the
robust white-eye
The robust white-eye (''Zosterops strenuus''), also known as the Lord Howe white-eye or robust silvereye and locally as the "big grinnell", is an extinct species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It was Endemism, endemic to the lowland forests ...
, the
Lord Howe starling
The Tasman starling (''Aplonis fusca'') was described in 1836 by John Gould as a species which occurred on both Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. In 1928 Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews recognized that the plumage of the race from Lor ...
, the
Lord Howe fantail
The Lord Howe fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa cervina''), also known as the Lord Howe Island fantail or fawn-breasted fantail, was a small bird in the fantail family, Rhipiduridae. It is an extinct subspecies of the New Zealand fantail (''Rhipid ...
and the
Lord Howe gerygone
The Lord Howe gerygone or Lord Howe gerygone flyeater (''Gerygone insularis'') was a small bird in the family (biology), family Acanthizidae, brown and greyish in color. Its head was brown apart from a pale grey eye-ring and a grey throat and ch ...
, as well as the destruction of the native phasmid and the decimation of palm fruits. Bounties were offered for rat and pig tails and 'ratting' became a popular pursuit. Subsequent poisoning programs have kept populations low. The
Lord Howe boobook
The Lord Howe boobook (''Ninox novaeseelandiae albaria''), also known as the Lord Howe morepork, was a bird in the true owl family endemic to Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, part of New South Wales, Australia. It is an extinct and little-know ...
may have become extinct through predation by, or competition with, the
Tasmanian masked owl
The Tasmanian masked owl (''Tyto novaehollandiae castanops'') is a bird in the barn owl family Tytonidae that is endemic to the island state of Tasmania, Australia. It is the largest subspecies of the Australian masked owl, the largest ''Tyto'' ...
s, which were introduced in the 1920s in a failed attempt to control the rat population. Stray dogs are also a threat, as they could harm the native woodhen and other birds.
Invasive plants such as Crofton weed and
Formosa lily
''Lilium formosanum'', also known as the Formosa lily or Taiwanese lily (), is a plant species in the lily family, endemic to Taiwan.ground asparagus and
bridal creeper
''Asparagus asparagoides'', commonly known as bridal creeper, bridal-veil creeper, ''gnarboola'', smilax or smilax asparagus, is a herbaceous climbing plant of the family Asparagaceae native to eastern and southern Africa. Sometimes grown as an ...
Madeira vine
''Anredera cordifolia'', commonly known as the Madeira-vine or mignonette vine, is a South American species of ornamental plant, ornamental succulent vine of the family Basellaceae. The combination of fleshy leaves and thick aerial tubers makes t ...
, ''
Cotoneaster
''Cotoneaster'' is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to the Palaearctic region (temperate Asia, Europe, north Africa), with a strong concentration of diversity in the genus in the mountains of southwestern China an ...
'', ''
Ochna
''Ochna''Linnaeus C (1753) ''Sp. Pl.'' 1: 513. is a genus comprising 86 species of evergreen trees, shrubs and shrublets belonging to the flowering plant family ''Ochnaceae''. These species are native to tropical woodlands of Africa, the Mascare ...
'', and ''
Cestrum
''Cestrum'' is a genus of — depending on authority — 150-250 species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae. They are native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas, from the southernmost United States (Florida, Texas: day ...
''. This has been followed by weeding tours and the formation of the Friends of Lord Howe Island group in 2000. Programs have also been started to remove weeds from private properties and re-vegetate some formerly cultivated areas. An environmental unit was created by the board and it includes a flora management officer and a permanent weed officer. Weeds have been mapped and an eradication program is in place, supported by improved education and quarantine procedures.
Introduced species that harmed Lord Howe's native flora and fauna, namely feral pigs, cats and goats, were eradicated by the early 2000s.
In July 2012, the Australian federal Environment Minister
Tony Burke
Anthony Stephen Burke (born 4 November 1969) is an Australian politician serving as Leader of the House, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for the Arts since 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP ...
and the New South Wales Environment Minister
Robyn Parker
Robyn Mary Parker (born 3 August 1958), is a former Australian politician, and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Electoral district of Maitland, Maitland for the Liberal Party from 2011 New South Wales state ...
announced that the Australian and New South Wales governments would each contribute 50% of the estimated A$9 million cost of implementing a rodent eradication plan for the island, using aerial deployment of poison baits. The plan was put to a local vote and is considered controversial. Around 230 woodhens were captured before the rodent eradication commenced in early 2019. Following the successful eradication of the rodents, all woodhens and currawongs were released across the island in late 2019 and early 2020.
A recovery program has restored the
Lord Howe woodhen
The Lord Howe woodhen (''Hypotaenidia sylvestris'') also known as the Lord Howe Island woodhen or Lord Howe (Island) rail, is a flightless bird of the rail family, (Rallidae). It is endemic to Lord Howe Island off the Australian coast. It is curr ...
's numbers from only 20 in 1970 to about 200 in 2000, which is close to
carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as t ...
.
Climate change
According to an analysis by eminent Australian academic
Tim Flannery
Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, Conservation biology, conservationist, Exploration, explorer, author, Science communication, science communicator, activist and p ...
, the ecosystem of Lord Howe Island is threatened by
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
and
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, with the reefs at risk from rises in water temperature. The first international conference on global
artificial photosynthesis
Artificial photosynthesis is a chemical process that biomimics the natural process of photosynthesis to convert sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen. The term artificial photosynthesis is commonly used to refer to ...
as a climate-change solution occurred at Lord Howe Island in 2011, the papers being published by the ''Australian Journal of Chemistry''.
Heritage listings
The Lord Howe Islands Group was inscribed on the World Heritage List for its unique landforms and biota, its diverse and largely intact ecosystems, natural beauty, and habitats for threatened species. It also has significant cultural heritage associations in the history of NSW.
Lord Howe Island and adjacent islets, Admiralty Islands, Mutton Bird Islands, Ball's Pyramid, and associated coral reefs and marine environs were added to the
Australian National Heritage List
The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...
on 21 May 2007, on the basis of the World Heritage List.
Lord Howe Island was listed on the
New South Wales State Heritage Register
The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...
on 2 April 1999.
In September 2019 it was revealed that, in 2017, federal environment minister
Josh Frydenberg
Joshua Anthony Frydenberg () (born 17 July 1971) is an Australian former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2018 to 2022. He also served as a member of parliament (MP) for the divisio ...
overruled a recommendation from his department to install two wind turbines. The project, which would have substantially reduced the island's dependence on diesel-powered electricity generators, had been considered not to endanger the island's heritage status and was supported by the islanders.
Sport
*
Lord Howe Island Bowling Club
Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...
*
Lord Howe Island Golf Club
Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...
See also
*
Jim Lacey
James Francis Lacey (5 June 1934 – 31 January 2008) was an Australian whose work was considered instrumental in the development of the Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, New South Wales, as its general manager from 1988 to 1992. Lacey also served a ...
, former administrator
*
List of islands of Australia
This is a list of selected Australian islands grouped by State or Territory. Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders.
Largest islands
The islands larger than are:
* Tasmania (Tas) ;
* Melville Island, Northern Territory (NT ...