Lord Howe Island Group
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How it came to be
The Lord Howe Island Group lies about 600 km east of Port Macquarie on the Australian mainland. It is the eroded remnant of a shield volcano about 7 million years old that erupted for some 500,000 years. The group has 28 islands, islets and rocks, including Ball's Pyramid, a 551 m spire about 23 km southeast of the main island. No evidence of people before the Europeans has been found.
On 17 February 1788 Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, commanding HMS Supply on the way to found a penal settlement on Norfolk Island, made the first reported sighting. On the return voyage in March he sent a party ashore to claim the island for Britain. Whaling ships later used it for supplies, and permanent settlement began in June 1834. Rats came ashore when SS Makambo ran aground in 1918 and wiped out several endemic bird species.
The Lord Howe Island stick insect was last seen on the main island in 1920 and presumed extinct, until a team found 24 of them on Ball's Pyramid in 2001. UNESCO listed the island group in 1982.
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