Phillip Island (Norfolk Island)
Encyclopedia
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
in the Southwest Pacific, and part of the Norfolk Island group. It was named in 1788 by Lieutenant Philip Gidley King
Philip Gidley King
Captain Philip Gidley King RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third Governor of New South Wales.-Early years and establishment of Norfolk Island settlement:King was born...
for Arthur Phillip
Arthur Phillip
Admiral Arthur Phillip RN was a British admiral and colonial administrator. Phillip was appointed Governor of New South Wales, the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the settlement which is now the city of Sydney.-Early life and naval career:Arthur Phillip...
, the first Governor of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. It is part of the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n territory of Norfolk Island. It is included in Norfolk Island National Park
Norfolk Island National Park
Norfolk Island National Park is a protected area of 6.50 km² established in 1984 and managed by the Commonwealth of Australia. It comprises two sections, the Mount Pitt section on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific Ocean with an area of 4.60 km² and the neighbouring 1.90 km² Phillip Island, as...
, as is neighbouring Nepean Island
Nepean Island (Norfolk Island)
Nepean Island is a small uninhabited island located at, about 1 km south off a golf course on Norfolk Island in the Southwest Pacific. It was named in 1788 by Lieutenant Philip Gidley King for Evan Nepean, Under Secretary of the Home Department of the United Kingdom...
, and about 10 per cent of Norfolk Island proper. Phillip Island has an area of 190 hectares (469.5 acre), measuring 2.1 km (1.3 mi) from west to east and 1.95 km (1.2 mi) from north to south, with the highest point, Jacky Jacky, 280 m (918.6 ft) above sea level. It is roughly shaped like a hairdryer with the nozzle pointing east. The island is of volcanic origin, made of basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
ic tuff
Tuff
Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...
and lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
dating from the Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
epoch. Phillip Island is included on the Register of the National Estate
Register of the National Estate
The Register of the National Estate is a listing of natural and cultural heritage places in Australia. The listing was initially compiled between 1976 and 2003 by the Australian Heritage Commission. The register is now maintained by the Australian Heritage Council...
.
Flora and fauna
Penal colony
A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...
era, of pest animals such as pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s, goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s and rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
s. This caused massive erosion giving the island a reddish brown colour as viewed from Norfolk due to the absence of topsoil. However, the pigs and goats were removed during the early 20th century, and rabbits were exterminated by 1988. Since then, natural regeneration of native species and weeds, and remediation work by park staff, has brought some improvement to Phillip Island's environment. Reforestation
Reforestation
Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands that have been depleted, usually through deforestation....
is currently underway. Considering most of the island's surface was completely devoid of vegetation before rabbit control, the rate of vegetation development and soil formation is extraordinary. Reforestation of Norfolk Island pine on Phillip was assisted in the late 1980s by a C130E Hercules from 37 Sqn RAAF Richmond. Record crops of Norfolk pine seeds were collected and aerial seeded on Phillip Island by the Hercules aircraft.
Despite the environmental degradation, the lack of feral cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s and rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s on the island has allowed some animals to persist there after having become extinct on Norfolk.
Phillip island has a vascular flora of about 80 species. Two terrestrial reptiles, a gecko
Gecko
Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....
(Christinus guentheri
Christinus guentheri
Christinus guentheri is a species of lizard in the Gekkonidae family.It is found at Australia islands, at the Norfolk and Lord Howe Island, and has a common name Lord Howe Island Southern Gecko....
), and a skink
Skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...
(Cyclodina lichenigera
Lord Howe Island skink
The Lord Howe Island Skink is a species of skink in the Scincidae family. It is found on Australia's Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands.-References:* Australasian Reptile & Amphibian Specialist Group 1996.* ....
), have been recorded. It is an important breeding site for 12 species of seabird
Seabird
Seabirds are birds that have 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 environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
s, including the Providence Petrel
Providence Petrel
The Providence Petrel is a species that burrows in one location; isolated Lord Howe Island, some 800km from the Australian mainland in the Tasman Sea....
, Kermadec Petrel
Kermadec Petrel
The Kermadec Petrel is a species of seabird in the Procellariidae family.-Distribution:It is found in Australia, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Micronesia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Pitcairn, and the United States....
, White-necked Petrel
White-necked Petrel
The White-necked Petrel , also known as the White-naped Petrel, is a species of seabird in the Procellariidae family. During non-breeding season it occurs throughout a large part of the Pacific, but it is only known to breed on Macauley Island in New Zealand's Kermadec Islands and the Australian...
, Wedge-tailed Shearwater
Wedge-tailed Shearwater
The Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus pacificus 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 the Short-tailed Shearwater of Australia...
, Australasian Gannet, Sooty Tern
Sooty Tern
The Sooty Tern, Onychoprion fuscatus , is a seabird of the tern family . It is a bird of the tropical oceans, breeding on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Colloquially, it is known as the Wideawake Tern or just wideawake...
(known locally as the Whale Bird), Red-tailed Tropicbird
Red-tailed Tropicbird
The Red-tailed Tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda, is a seabird that nests across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the rarest of the tropicbirds, yet is still a widespread bird that is not considered threatened. It nests in colonies on oceanic islands....
and Grey Ternlet. The Sooty Tern has traditionally been subject to seasonal egg harvesting.
External links
- Phillip Island Department of the Environment and Water Resources
- Geological origins, Norfolk Island Tourism