Lord Howe Island Group / Heritage Australia

Lord Howe Island is a tiny Australian island in the Tasman Sea east of Port Macquarie. It's characterised by sandy beaches, subtropical forests and clear waters. In the south, a trail winds up soaring Mount Gower, with sweeping views. Ned's Beach in the north has calm fish- and coral-rich waters. The island is home to seabird colonies, including masked boobies. Dive sites surround the nearby Admiralty Islands.

Area: 14.55 km² Location: Lord Howe Island Group, Tasman Sea Highest point: Mount Gower Population: 347 (2006) Did you know: Geologists believe that there were two main volcanic episodes in the formation of Lord Howe Island.

Lord Howe Island (/haʊ/; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, 600 km (370 mi) directly east of mainland Port Macquarie, 780 km (480 mi) northeast of Sydney, and about 900 km (560 mi) southwest of Norfolk Island. It is about 10 km (6.2 mi) long and between 0.3 and 2.0 km (0.19 and 1.24 mi) wide with an area of 14.55 km2 (5.62 sq mi), though just 3.98 km2 (1.54 sq mi) of that comprises the low-lying developed part of the island.

Along the west coast there is a sandy semi-enclosed sheltered coral reef lagoon. Most of the population lives in the north, while the south is dominated by forested hills rising to the highest point on the island, Mount Gower (875 m, 2,871 ft).The Lord Howe Island Group comprises 28 islands, islets and rocks. Apart from Lord Howe Island itself the most notable of these is the volcanic and uninhabited Ball's Pyramid about 23 km (14 mi; 12 nmi) to the southeast of Howe. To the North lies a cluster of seven small uninhabited islands called the Admiralty Group.

The first reported sighting of Lord Howe Island took place on 17 February 1788, when Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, commander of the Armed Tender HMS Supply, was en route from Botany Bay to found a penal settlement on Norfolk Island. On the return journey Ball sent a party ashore on Lord Howe Island to claim it as a British possession. It subsequently became a provisioning port for the whaling industry, and was permanently settled in June 1834. When whaling declined, the 1880s saw the beginning of the worldwide export of the endemic kentia palms, which remains a key component of the Island's economy. The other continuing industry, tourism, began after World War II ended in 1945.

The Lord Howe Island Group is part of the state of New South Wales and for legal purposes is regarded as an unincorporated area administered by the Lord Howe Island Board which reports to the New South Wales Minister for Environment and Heritage. The island's standard time zone is UTC+10:30, or UTC+11 when daylight saving time applies. The currency is the Australian dollar. Commuter airlines provide flights to Sydney, Brisbane and Port Macquarie.

UNESCO records the Lord Howe Island Group as a World Heritage Site of global natural significance. Most of the island is virtually untouched forest, with many of the plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Other natural attractions include the diversity of the landscapes, the variety of upper mantle and oceanic basalts, the world's southernmost barrier coral reef, nesting seabirds, and the rich historical and cultural heritage. The Lord Howe Island Act 1981 established a "Permanent Park Preserve" (covering about 70 per cent of the island).The island was added to the Australian National Heritage List on 21 May 2007 and the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.The surrounding waters are a protected region designated the Lord Howe Island Marine Park.