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.

[10] A drawing made in May 1788 by Arthur Bowes Smyth who was the surgeon aboard Lady Penrhyn, a ship of the First Fleet heading for China on its return trip to England.

Much of the plant and animal life was first recorded in the journals and diaries of visitors such as David Blackburn, Master of Supply, and Arthur Bowes Smyth,[29] surgeon of the Lady Penrhyn.

His journal entry for 19 March 1788 noted that: "...the Supply, in her return, landed at the island she [discovered] in going out, and all were very agreeably surprised to find great numbers of a fine turtle on the beach and, on the land amongst the trees, great numbers of fowls very like a guinea hen, and another species of fowl not unlike the landrail in England, and all so perfectly tame that you could frequently take hold of them with your hands but could, at all times, knock down as many as you thought proper, with a short stick.

[35] Permanent settlement on Lord Howe was established in June 1834, when the British whaling barque Caroline, sailing from New Zealand and commanded by Captain John Blinkenthorpe, landed at what is now known as Blinky Beach.

[12][36] The settlers bartered their stores of water, wood, vegetables, meat, fish, and bird feathers for clothes, tea, sugar, tools, tobacco, and other commodities not available on the island, but it was the whalers' valuation that had to be accepted.

Then in 1847, Poole, Dawson, and Foulis, bitter at failing to obtain a land lease from the New South Wales government, abandoned the settlement although three of their employees remained.

On board were three Scottish biologists, William Milne (a gardener-botanist from the Edinburgh Botanic Garden), John MacGillivray (naturalist) who collected fish and plant specimens, and assistant surgeon and zoologist Denis Macdonald.

[50] From the early 1860s, whaling declined rapidly with the increasing use of petroleum, the onset of the California Gold Rush, and the American Civil War—with unfortunate consequences for the people of the island.

[113] To protect the fragile environment of Ball's Pyramid (which carries the last remaining wild population of the endangered Lord Howe Island stick insect), recreational climbing there is prohibited.

[115][116] Swimming, snorkelling, and scuba diving are also popular in the lagoon, as well as off Tenth of June Island, a small rocky outcrop in the Admiralty group where an underwater plateau drops 36 m (118 ft) to reveal extensive gorgonia and black corals growing on the vertical walls.

Apart from Lord Howe Island itself, the most notable of these is the pointed rocky islet Balls Pyramid, a 551 m-high (1,808 ft) eroded volcano about 23 km (14 mi) to the southeast, which is uninhabited by humans but bird-colonised.

[134][135] Geological pyroclastic remnants of a volcanic eruption can be seen on the 15 ha (37-acre) Roach Island (where the oldest rocks occur) and Boat Harbour as tuff (ash), breccia (with angular blocks), and agglomerate (rounded 'bombs').

[136] Rocks and land at the foot of these mountains is calcarenite, coral sand, blown inland during the Pleistocene between 130,000 and 20,000 years ago and cemented into stratified layers by water percolation.

[159] Since the rodent eradication program, researchers have observed an increase in the amount of growth and seeds, especially of the "larger, fleshy, fruited plants", previously eaten by rats.

[105] All four species are endemic to the island, often occurring in dense, pure stands, the one that has proved such a worldwide success as an indoor plant being the kentia or thatch palm (Howea forsteriana).

From the Little Island Track between March and November, one of the world's rarest birds, the providence petrel, also performs courtship displays during winter breeding, and it is extremely tame.

[171] Masked boobies are the largest seabirds breeding on Lord Howe[172] and can be seen nesting and gliding along the sea cliffs at Mutton Bird Point all year round.

[175] The iconic endemic rail, the flightless Lord Howe woodhen, is the only surviving member of its genus; its ancestors could fly, but with no predators and plenty of food on the island, this ability was lost.

During the Pleistocene the giant terrestrial horned turtle Meiolania platyceps was endemic to the island, but this is currently thought to have gone extinct before human occupation as a result of postglacial sea-level rise.

The Lord Howe stick insect disappeared from the main island soon after the accidental introduction of rats when the SS Makambo ran aground near Ned's Beach on 15 June 1918.

[178][179] In 2001, a tiny population was discovered in a single Melaleuca howeana shrub on the slopes of Ball's Pyramid,[180] has been successfully bred in captivity, and is nearing re-introduction to the main island.

[188] Various species of cetaceans inhabit or migrate through the waters in the vicinity, but very little about their biology in the area is known due to a lack of studies and sighting efforts caused by locational conditions.

[194] Endemism at the generic level includes the palms Howea, Hedyscepe and Lepidorrhachis, a woody daisy Lordhowea insularis, the tree Negria, the leech Quantenobdella howensis, three annelid worm genera (Paraplutellus, Pericryptodrilus and Eastoniella), an isopod shrimp Stigmops, a hemipteran bug Howeria, and a cricket Howeta.

The first round of extinctions included the Lord Howe swamphen or white gallinule, the white-throated pigeon, the red-crowned parakeet, and the Tasman booby, which were eliminated by visitors and settlers during the 19th century, either from overhunting for food or protection of crops.

[203] The Lord Howe boobook may have become extinct through predation by, or competition with, the Tasmanian masked owls, which were introduced in the 1920s in a failed attempt to control the rat population.

[207] In 1995, the first action was taken to control the spread of introduced plants on the island, chiefly ground asparagus and bridal creeper, but also cherry guava, Madeira vine, Cotoneaster, Ochna, and Cestrum.

[204][215] According to an analysis by eminent Australian academic Tim Flannery, the ecosystem of Lord Howe Island is threatened by climate change and global warming, with the reefs at risk from rises in water temperature.

[138][216][217] The first international conference on global artificial photosynthesis as a climate-change solution occurred at Lord Howe Island in 2011,[218] the papers being published by the Australian Journal of Chemistry.

[219] The Lord Howe Islands Group was inscribed on the World Heritage List for its unique landforms and biota, its diverse and largely intact ecosystems, its natural beauty, and its habitats for threatened species.