Lord Howe Island - Geology, Flora and Fauna, History

31°33S 159°04E, pop (2000e) 600. Volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean, 702 km/436 mi NE of Sydney; part of New South Wales; area 16·6 km²/6·4 sq mi; rises to 866 m/2841 ft at Mt Gower; discovered, 1788; a popular resort island; a world heritage site.

Lord Howe Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean 600 km (375 miles) east of Australia. - maps

Location of Lord Howe Island, the main island: 31°33′20″S, 159°05′20″E Location of Wheatsheaf Islet and Ball's Pyramid (located southeast of the main island Lord Howe Island): 31°45′21″S, 159°15′02″E Highest Point: Mount Gower, 875 m (2870 feet) Area: 14.6 km² (5.6 sq miles) Population: 350 permanent residents.

The Lord Howe Island group was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1982 in recognition of its unique beauty and biodiversity. Lord Howe Island Marine Park and Lord Howe Island Marine Park (commonwealth waters) protect the waters surrounding the island group.

Geology

Lord Howe island is roughly crescent-shaped, about 10 km long and 1.5 km wide.

Mount Lidgbird (777m, 2548 feet) and Mount Gower (875 m, 2870 feet) dominate the south end of the island.

Ball's Pyramid is a rocky islet located 16 km (10 mi) south of Lord Howe Island, and also the remnant of an eroded volcano.

Flora and Fauna

Lord Howe island is a distinct terrestrial ecoregion, known as the Lord Howe Island subtropical forests. Lord Howe Island was never part of a continent, and all of its flora and fauna colonized the island from across the sea.

14 species of seabirds and 18 species of landbirds breed on the island group, including an endemic species, the Lord Howe Woodhen (Gallirallus sylvestris) and 3 endemic subspecies, the Lord Howe Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis contempta), the Lord Howe White-eye (Zosterops lateralis tephropleurus) and the Lord Howe Currawong (Strepera graculina crissalis).

A number of endemic bird species and subspecies have become extinct since the arrival of humans on the island. The accidental introduction of the Black Rat in the 1918 shipwreck of the Makambo triggered a second wave of extinctions including the Vinous-tinted Thrush (Turdus poliocephalus vinitinctus), the Robust White-eye (Zosterops strenuus) and the Lord Howe Starling (Alponis fusca hulliana), the Lord Howe Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa cervina) and the Lord Howe Gerygone (Gerygone insularis).

Only one native mammal remains on the islands, the Large Forest Bat (Eptesicus sagittula).

Two terrestrial reptiles are native to the island group: the skink (Leiolopisma lichenigera)) and the gecko (Phyllodactylus guentheri). Both are rare on the main island but more common on smaller islands offshore.

The Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) disappeared from the main island soon after the introduction of Black rats.

Over 400 fish species are found in the waters around Lord Howe including 9 endemic to the region.

About 10 percent of Lord Howe Island's forests have been cleared for agriculture, and another 20 percent has been disturbed by domestic cattle and feral sheep, goats, and pigs. Despite a large number of introduced species that harm Lord Howe's native flora and fauna, goats have recently been eliminated from the island, the feral pig population has been reduced, and there are ongoing efforts to control rats, mice, and introduced plants.

History

Lord Howe Island was discovered on 17 February 1788 by HMS Supply, commanded by Lieutenant Ball, who was on his way from Botany Bay to Norfolk Island with convicts to start a penal settlement there.

Mount Lidgbird (above) on the island and the nearby Ball's Pyramid are named after Ball. The island itself was named after Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe who was First Lord of the Admiralty.

Many government ships sailing between New South Wales and Norfolk Island stopped at the island, as did some whaling and trading vessels. Some ships left goats and pigs on the island for food for future visitors but a permanent settlement wasn't established until 1834 at an area known today as Old Settlement.

In 2002 the Royal Navy Destroyer HMS Nottingham struck Wolf Rock, a reef at Lord Howe Island, and was almost sunk.