The endemics of Phillip island

Abstract

Phillip Island, situated 4 miles south of Norfolk Island in the western Pacific was completely clothed in vegetation when discovered by Captain Cook in 1774. A penal settlement was established on Norfolk Island in 1788 and pigs and goats were placed on Phillip Island to supply meat for the colony. Severe erosion was already evident when Allan Cunningham visited the island in 1830. At some later date rabbits were introduced. The island is now completely eroded, with only a few plants remaining in the valleys. Of the three plant endemics, the Phillip Island Glory Pea, Streblorrhiza speciosa, is extinct, the grass Agropyron kingianum was last seen in 1912 but may still exist, and the Phillip Island Hibiscus, H. insularis, is represented by a few bushes. An endemic parrot, Nestor products, closely related to the Kea of New Zealand, has long been extinct.