Talk:Lord Howe Island

Untitled
I would just like to say that I went on a cruise in 1975, on the Oriana. We were supposed to go to Vila and Noumea but as we left Sydney Harbour we followed a hurricane all the way to Vila it was a mess when we arrived. Noumea was a little better. By way of compensation the cruise was detoured to circumnavigate Lord Howe Island and Ball's Pyramid. I will never forget the amazing sight as this massive blue spire/pyramid grew ever larger on the horizon. It is a truly spectacular and amazing sight in the middle of the ocean. I would recommend this as a must to anyone who travels to Lord Howe Island. L.I.Boundy 26/03/2006

Southern Most Reef?
The article claims that Lord Howe Island has the most Southern coral reefs in the world -- is this really true (or just a little bit true)? I've seen the same claim made for Rottnest Island, lattitude 32°0′35″S vs Lord Howe's 37°.

See http://www.rottnestisland.com/en/Marine+Management+Strategy/Rottnest+Island+Marine+Reserve/default.htm


 * I think this requires clarification as well. Rottnest Island has a fringing reef in the same manner as Lord Howe, so I don't see how the statement that Howe is the southernmost coral reef can be regarded as factually accurate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.90.55.115 (talk) 16:18, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

Unique clock shift?
The page includes "Timezone: UTC+10:30 (+11:00 DST)".

I believe that the Island is currently unique in having Summer Time with a shift other than one hour. That seems interesting enough, if carefully verified, to be worth stating as such in the text.

82.163.24.100 13:16, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

pronunciation
Is it Lord /hau/ or Lord /hou/? kwami 23:13, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Rhymes with how, now, cow, rather than slow, low, blow. If that helps. Kahuroa (talk) 01:31, 13 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks. kwami (talk) 17:01, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

GAN
Article needs info on things other than environment before it can pass: govt rule, demographics, religion, schools/hospitals on the island etc  YellowMonkey  ( cricket calendar poll! ) paid editing=POV 01:42, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

And what sort of a references are Hutton, Coleman or Flannery? The citations need improving. Polargeo (talk) 22:40, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * No it's correct to use shorthand in the notes and list the book in full at the end  YellowMonkey  ( cricket calendar poll! ) paid editing=POV 02:10, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Worthy of a brief mention.
Having recently been there, there are a few things that we saw/heard that should be in this article. I shall list them here first as bullet points and then if no-one objects, will put them into the main article. In no particular order, here goes:

The RAAF Catalina that crashed in 1949, the remnants of which form a tourist item. Either somewhat expanded in "History", or a brief mention in "Tourist Facility", or both.

The controversy regarding the building of the airport, the effects of the airport on tourism and the local ecology, and the management of the resulting expansion of tourism.

" ... no daytime sharks off the beaches". Well, we saw a Blacktip reef shark at Ned's Beach, I think that he means no dangerous sharks.

The unsuccessful introduction of the owl as a predator on the rats, with a bit of detail as to what actually happened. Old_Wombat (talk) 10:02, 26 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Hi Old Wombat - that all looks good to me, but could I suggest that all the additions are kept as brief as possible?  Granitethighs  12:03, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

How about three lines each at most? Old_Wombat (talk) 02:26, 27 December 2011 (UTC)


 * The information itself looks good. My only concern is maintaining balance within the article by weighting the new information relative to the other content. Three lines sounds quite a lot to me. For example the shark edit simply requires the addition of a single word.  If you disagree, then put in the information and we can discuss how it looks.  Granitethighs   09:57, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

I agree with all you say and will follow your suggestions. I will put the suggested texts here first and then everyone can kick them to death first. Whatever survives can then go into the article Old_Wombat (talk) 09:33, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

I put in the one word into the shark article as per your suggestion. The rest will have to wait for a week or so. Old_Wombat (talk) 09:42, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Time Zone
The time zone on Lord Howe Island is Lord Howe Standard Time (UTC + 10.5 hours) from the 1st Sunday of April to the 1st Sunday of October and Lord Howe Summer Time (UTC + 11 hours) from the 1st Sunday of October to the 1st Sunday of April. Of all of the places in the world that switch to Daylight Saving Time/ Summer Time each year, Lord Howe Island is the only place where the current Summer Time offset is not one hour.

HankW512 (talk) 16:58, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 3 one external links on Lord Howe Island. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110321122526/http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/legislation/09756lhiactreview.pdf to http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/legislation/09756lhiactreview.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20120331102023/http://www.lordhoweislandtours.net/weather-a-forecast to http://www.lordhoweislandtours.net/weather-a-forecast
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20111109083938/http://environment.gov.au/coasts/mpa/publications/pubs/lordhowe-plan.pdf to http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mpa/publications/pubs/lordhowe-plan.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 21:50, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Lord Howe Island. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20130419050017/http://www.lordhowe.com/press/Australian%20Traveller.pdf to http://www.lordhowe.com/press/Australian%20Traveller.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 13:20, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 one external links on Lord Howe Island. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.lordhoweisland.info/getting-to-lord-howe-island-factsheet.pdf
 * Added archive http://www.webcitation.org/5QE8rvIqH?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.birdlife.org to http://www.birdlife.org
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160328015942/https://law.anu.edu.au/conferences/artificial-photosynthesis to https://law.anu.edu.au/conferences/artificial-photosynthesis

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 07:46, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Lord Howe Island. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090913093002/http://www.aucd.org.au/pdf/Lord_Howe_Island_MR.pdf to http://www.aucd.org.au/pdf/Lord_Howe_Island_MR.pdf
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.lordhoweisland.info/getting-to-lord-howe-island-factsheet.pdf
 * Added tag to http://www.lordhoweisland.info/walking.htm/important-info.htm
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.birdlife.org/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 21:42, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Lord Howe Island. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090503074945/http://www.lordhoweisland.info/important-info.htm to http://www.lordhoweisland.info/important-info.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111007054652/http://www.blueswami.com/lord_howe_island.html?page=0&scope=1&sortby=id&dir=desc&pic=1400 to http://www.blueswami.com/lord_howe_island.html?page=0&scope=1&sortby=id&dir=desc&pic=1400

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 04:29, 6 January 2018 (UTC)

Article - Endangered animals bounce back on rat-free Lord Howe Island
Key points: Rats have had a significant impact on flora and fauna on Lord Howe Island. In recent times a major rat eradication program was carried out. Since then there has been significant improvements for fauna and fauna.

Quoting:The last rat seen on Lord Howe Island was sniffed out by a detector dog about 15 months ago not long after a sometimes controversial program to rid the island of an estimated 200,000 of the vermin began.

The change in the little island since the rats disappeared has been spectacular, says Terry O’Dwyer, a biologist who worked on the program.

Shoots are now covering sections of the island’s forest floor and its famed Kentia palms are heavy with fruit.

Most significantly there has been a rebound in the numbers of Lord Howe’s flightless woodhen, which was pushed towards extinction by the rats that competed with it for food and even preyed on its eggs and young.

Fears that the woodhen might succumb to the baiting program that was carried out between June and July in 2019 caused some islanders to campaign against the effort, and prompted scientists to capture and keep them in captivity as the rats were being exterminated.

“We knew they were going to be all right as soon as we released them,” Dr O’Dwyer said. “They started copulating before they were out of sight.”

In a recent survey 440 of the hens were counted, twice the number of the previous count a year earlier.

Feral animals have already caused the extinction of six bird species including the Lord Howe Island fantail, white-eye, gerygone, starling and thrush, as well as 13 invertebrates and two plant species. Since rats scurried ashore from a shipwreck in 1918, they have caused or contributed to the extinction.

The impact of the eradication has stunned some observers.

“It has blown me away,” tour operator Jack Shick said. “I was a huge supporter of [the eradication] but I am in disbelief at what I am seeing. There are more birds, there are berries on the trees and insects are coming back. We are hearing crickets calling again at night. I remember that sound from when I was a kid.

“The thing that excites me is that there is no one alive on Lord Howe who can tell us what it was like before the rats came, so there is a new discovery around every corner.”

It will take longer to assess the impact on larger animals, but, said Dr O’Dwyer, the breeding success rate of petrels on the island has jumped from 2 or 3 per cent to more than 70 per cent.

Eradication programs of invasive species on islands have become a key tool against the global extinction crisis. The Database of Island Invasive Species Eradications has tracked 2000 programs between 1950 and 2019.

The $15.5 million Lord Howe Island program involved intensive ground and aerial baiting in 2019, supported by ongoing monitoring and ramped-up quarantine measures.

“This is an extraordinary example of a community conservation effort backed by world-leading science,” said NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean, who visited the island last week.

It is expected that the island will be declared rodent free later this year, two years after the baiting was finished. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.169.207.105 (talk) 01:57, 31 January 2021 (UTC)

Congenital illnesses?
Great article! Thank you to all who have contributed.

Do the permanent residents, descendants of the very limited number of original settlers for six generations according to the article, suffer from genetic diseases due to the limited gene pool similar to the Amish? I imagine permanent immigration is not permitted. However, are residents permitted to settle their spouses on the island if they marry an outsider?HistoryBuff14 (talk) 23:29, 20 September 2021 (UTC)