Heritage 0609_Lord Howe.pdf - Australian Heritage Magazine

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LEFT: View across Lord Howe Island to Mount Lidgbird and Mount Gower. Photo Hallmark Editions. the most southerly on earth, gradually formed to create a protected lagoon that supports a mixture of tropical and temperate marine life, some of which is found nowhere else. It was the remains of coral and other marine life, pounded to sand and washed ashore, that formed the sedimentary rock called calcarenite that now makes up the island’s lowlands. With a mild climate, plentiful rainfall and rich volcanic soils and limestone sands, Lord Howe Island provided a fertile habitat for many plant and animal emigrants. Plants arrived as seeds, blown by the wind, floating on the sea or carried by birds. Once germinated, these pioneers were cut off from others of their species and, over many generations, they evolved in response to the island’s unique conditions. Some plants, such as the ancestors of the island’s palms, evolved so much that they formed new genera found nowhere else in the world, with distinct species specialised for different parts of the island. The iconic kentia palm (Howea forsteriana) grows best in the sandy soils of the lowlands, while the closely related curly palm (Howea belmoreana) favours the volcanic soils of the lower slopes. Many of the island’s plants evolved in this way, and nearly half of them are found only on Lord Howe Island and its surrounding islets. Once plants had taken root, animals could join them. Flying insects and spiders (whose young are able to ‘parachute’ over huge distances on threads of silk) reached the island with the wind. Snails and earthworms probably arrived on drifting rafts of debris. Again, evolution worked to create new species, and about two-thirds of Lord Howe Island’s invertebrates, including the giant Lord Howe phasmid (Dryococelus australis) (see page 64) are found nowhere else. The growing diversity of plants and insects on the island provided food for emigrant vertebrates. The ancestors of the Lord Howe gecko (Christinus guentheri) and the Lord Howe skink (Leilopisma lichenigera) were also probably brought to the island on floating debris. Two species of bats flew from Australia. The large forest bat (Vespadelus darlingtoni) is also found on the mainland, but the Lord Howe longeared bat (Nyctophilus howensis) has evolved to the point where it has become a distinct species. The most effective colonists of Lord Howe Island were undoubtedly birds. Most of the land birds evolved only slightly, and are recognisable as varieties of species from nearby lands. Amongst these were the Lord Howe red-fronted parakeet (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae subflavescens) which was larger than its relatives on Norfolk Island; the Lord Howe boobook owl (Ninox novaeseelandiae albaria), smaller than the Australian one; and the whitethroated pigeon (Columba vitiensis godmanae), whose plumage was slightly different from that of the widespread metallic pigeon. Some birds, however, like the now extinct flightless white gallinule (Porphyrio Australian Heritage 59
Golden orb weaver, one of 180 species of spider on Lord Howe Island. Photo Hallmark Editions. Kentia palm forest at the base of Mount Gower. Photo Hallmark Editions. albus) and the woodhen (Gallirallus sylvestris) (see page 64), evolved to such an extent that they were immediately recognisable as distinct species. Sea birds also came to the island to breed. Fourteen species including providence petrels (Pterodroma solandri), flesh-footed shearwaters (Puffinus carneipes), sooty terns (Sterna fuscata), and red-tailed tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda), congregate here in their thousands each year. It was huge flocks of seabirds that heralded the end of this pristine island’s isolation from humanity. On 17 January 1788, the French navigator Jean François de Galoup La Pérouse noted in his log “…we were surrounded by an innumerable quantity of seagulls, leading us to believe that we were sailing near to some kind of island or rock…” It is possible that La Pérouse was the first person to make this observation. The seafaring Polynesians had found and colonised nearly all Pacific islands, but Lord Howe Island was not among them. Though La Pérouse never found the island, he may have contributed to its discovery by sharing his findings with the British at Port Jackson. On 17 February 1788, the armed tender, Supply, sighted the island’s dramatic mountain peaks while transporting soldiers and convicts to Norfolk Island. Her commander, Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, named it Lord Howe’s Island in honour of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Earl Richard Howe. On the return trip, the Supply stopped at the island on 13 March and, finding it uninhabited, Lieutenant Ball took possession in the name of King George III and named some of the features for himself and his naval colleagues. Without a natural anchorage or any useful stands of timber, Ball did not recommend the island as a potential colony but the 15 turtles that he brought back with him and reports of abundant birds, fish and fruit were welcome news to the Port Jackson settlers who were already struggling to feed themselves. In May 1788, the Supply set out on a return trip to Lord Howe Island to stock up on turtles. In spite of Governor Philip’s efforts to keep this lifeline for his colony secret from the departing First Fleet, the first three ships to leave, Charlotte, Lady Penhryn and Scarborough, stopped off at the island on their way to China. To the disappointment of their crews, the turtles had vanished on their migration to warmer waters. Birds, however, were still plentiful and easily caught, as Captain Thomas Gilbert of the Charlotte observed: Great numbers of gannets, very large and fat, were walking with less fear and concern than geese in a farmyard; and they were taken by hand, with much more ease. We found their nests in the long grass at the head of the 60 Australian Heritage
Page 1: Lord Howe Island of Providence More
Page 5 and 6: Settlers in 1882. Photo courtesy Lo
Page 7: As the extraordinary beauty of Lord

Heritage 0609_Lord Howe.pdf - Australian Heritage Magazine

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