Phillip Island is an island located south of Norfolk Island in the

Southwest Pacific The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

, and is part of the Norfolk Island group. It was named in 1788 by Lieutenant

Philip Gidley King Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a British politician who was the third Governor of New South Wales. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detailed to colonise Norfolk Island for defence ...

after Arthur Phillip, the first Governor 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 ...

. Phillip Island is part of the Australian

external territory A dependent territory, dependent area, or dependency (sometimes referred as an external territory) is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a sovereign state, yet remains politically outside the controlli ...

of Norfolk Island, and is included in Norfolk Island National Park, as is neighbouring Nepean Island and about 10 percent of Norfolk Island proper. A National Parks hut located near the centre of the island houses a small rotating group of around four people for much of the year. Otherwise the island is uninhabited. Phillip Island has an area of , measuring from west to east and from north to south, with the highest point, Jacky Jacky, being 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 (; ) is an 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 surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

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 ...

and

lava 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 un ...

dating from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

epoch. Phillip Island is included on the Register of the National Estate.

Flora and fauna

Plants

The vegetation of Phillip Island was devastated due to the introduction, during Norfolk's

penal colony 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 ...

era, of pest animals such as

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s and rabbits. 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 by 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 considerable improvement to Phillip Island's environment. Revegetation is currently underway. A substantial proportion of the areas which were bare before rabbit eradication began is now well vegetated, though much is weed species. 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. Burrow-nesting seabirds now have colonies where soil was absent before rabbit eradication. Reforestation of Norfolk Island pine on Phillip Island was assisted in the late 1980s by a C130E Hercules from the RAAF's No. 37 Squadron based in Richmond. Record crops of Norfolk Island pine seeds were collected and aerial seeded on Phillip Island by the Hercules aircraft. Phillip Island has a vascular flora of about species. Three plant species are endemic to Phillip Island. '' Achyranthes margaretarum'' was discovered there after the rabbits had gone, and the current small population of this species is derived from the single original plant discovered. '' Abutilon julianae'' was rediscovered on Phillip Island when the rabbits had almost been eradicated; it had been believed extinct for more than seventy years. The third plant that grows only on this island is ''

Hibiscus insularis ''Hibiscus insularis'', the Phillip Island hibiscus, is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family Malvaceae, that is endemic to Phillip Island, a small island to the south of Norfolk Island, Australia. The entire natural extent of this ...

''.

Animals

Despite the environmental degradation, the lack of feral

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s and rats on the island has allowed some animals to persist there after having become extinct on Norfolk. However, there are extinct species that lived on both islands, such as the Norfolk kaka. Two terrestrial reptiles—a gecko (''

Christinus guentheri ''Christinus guentheri'' is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae (geckos). The species is endemic to two Australian islands, Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. Common names ''C. guentheri'' has the common names Günther's island geck ...

''), and a skink ('' Cyclodina lichenigera'')—have been recorded. The island is also an important breeding site for 12 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, including the providence petrel,

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 ...

white-necked petrel The white-necked petrel (''Pterodroma cervicalis''), also known as the white-naped petrel, is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae. During the non-breeding season it occurs throughout a large part of the Pacific, but it is only known ...

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 ...

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 ...

Australasian gannet The Australasian gannet (''Morus serrator''), also known as the Australian gannet or tākapu, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. Adults are mostly white, with black flight feathers at the wingtips and lining the trailin ...

, sooty tern (known locally as the whale bird), red-tailed tropicbird, and

grey noddy The grey noddy or grey ternlet (''Anous albivitta'') is a seabird belonging to the family Laridae. It was once regarded as a pale morph of the blue noddy (''Anous cerulea'') but is now usually considered to be a separate species. Taxonomy Th ...

. The sooty tern has traditionally been subject to seasonal egg harvesting. Phillip Island has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA), separate from the Norfolk Island IBA, because it supports small but increasing populations of providence and white-necked petrels as well as over 1% of the world population of grey noddies.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Phillip Island (Norfolk Island). Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-12-26.

References

* * *

External links

Phillip Island
Department of the Environment and Water Resources * * {{coord, 29, 07, S, 167, 57, E, type:isle_region:NF, display=title Islands of Norfolk Island Landforms of Norfolk Island Volcanoes of Australia Volcanoes of Zealandia Volcanoes of the Pacific Ocean Miocene volcanism Island restoration Important Bird Areas of Australian External Territories Uninhabited islands of Australia Volcanoes of Oceania Important Bird Areas of Oceania