Phillip Island is an island located south of

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

in the Southwest Pacific, 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 Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1800 to 1806. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detai ...

after

Arthur Phillip Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New South Wales, governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Royal Hospital School, Gree ...

, the first Governor of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. Phillip Island is part of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n external territory 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 aphanite, 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 planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

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 co ...

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 Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

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 The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

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 ...

era, of pest animals such as

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly 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 ...

s and

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

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 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 Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. 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''.

Animals

Despite the

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

, the lack of feral

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

s and

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

s 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 Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

('' Christinus guentheri''), and a

skink Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...

('' 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 adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

s, including the providence petrel, Kermadec petrel, white-necked petrel, black-winged petrel,

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, sooty tern (known locally as the whale bird), red-tailed tropicbird, and grey noddy. The sooty tern has traditionally been subject to seasonal egg harvesting. Phillip Island has been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(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