You won't find penguins on Australia's other Phillip Island

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Victoria's very own Phillip Island is complete with penguins and a racing track. But have you heard of Australia's other Phillip Island?

Perched 1,600 kilometres east of Brisbane, Phillip Island is a tiny rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Yet its landscape resembles a desert scene from the Northern Territory.

Joel Christian is a senior national parks ranger who lives on nearby Norfolk Island.

"Its colours are constantly changing throughout day and their brilliance depends on cloud cover," he said.

The unoccupied island radiates a rainbow of reds, purples, oranges and yellows.

The colours arc throughout its many undulating landforms to give off a lunar-like effect.

While transfixing, Mr Christian says the reason behind its stark beauty is "appalling".

The island is not made of iron-rich rock, like many expect.

Its dazzling colours are evidence of extreme erosion caused by feral animals during the 18th and 19th centuries.

"The island is almost completely void of vegetation. It's an absolutely massive level of destruction, " Mr Christian said.

A horrible history

From Kingston — the administrative capital of Norfolk Island where two brutal penal settlements ran from 1788 to 1855 — Phillip Island is just six kilometres away.

It was during Norfolk's penal years that pigs, goats and rabbits were deliberately released on Phillip Island as a food and game source for its fledgling settlement.

"The pigs dug everything up, the goats climbed on everything and ate it, and the rabbits kept everything off the ground," Mr Christian said.

After Norfolk's last penal settlement ended, livestock were left behind for the incoming free settlers relocating from Pitcairn Island, of which he is a descendent.

Later, opportunities to visit Phillip Island were fairly limited, so the rabbit population grew "like crazy".

The degradation continued unabated until the early 1980s when several attempts were made to eradicate the pests.

At that point, Mr Christian said, the island was totally stripped of vegetation.

"Three metres of top-soil had been eroded during that time," he said.

"Even today when it rains, you can see a bright orange ring around the island where more erosion has occurred."

Had it not been trampled by feral animals, Phillip Island's landscape would resemble the national park areas of Norfolk Island.

"There, it is deep forest with a canopy up to 60 feet tall. There is lots of top soil and lots of mulch on the ground. It's completely the opposite of what you see right now," Mr Christian said.

Road to recovery

With the days of baiting, shooting and trapping ferals behind them, the team of rangers at Norfolk Island National Park can now focus on re-establishing plants on the island.

Mr Christian has spent the past decade nursing the island back to good health. He's part of a small, dedicated team of park rangers who carry out strategic planting, weeding and soil erosion control activities.

The work is back-breaking at times.

The rangers must brave rough seas to reach the island, and once there they have to lug their own building supplies, chemicals, generator fuel and food on their backs.

They camp together in specially-built ranger huts.

The Norfolk community also have their own fishing hut on the island (pictured).

Mr Christian said their hard work is paying off.

"Once-bare gullies are now greening up. And our iconic Norfolk Island pines are producing more seed here than ever before," he said.

Weather permitting, the Norfolk-based team work on Phillip Island three days a month.

"Everyone on the team is local so this is something they do for the love of it," he said.

"For us, it's about leaving a legacy — what do we want to leave our kids, and our grandkids?"

Like mother, like son



Its boulder-strewn outcrops and exposed ridges make it difficult for visitors, but for birds Phillip Island is nothing short of paradise.

"There are no predators out here — no cats, rats or cockroaches," Mr Christian said.

Almost 40 species of sea birds migrate to the tiny rock each season to breed.

A quick check under any bush reveals nesting petrels, masked boobies, and red-tailed tropic-birds.

Mr Christian has dedicated his life to protecting the island's flora and fauna — including a 15-centimetre-long centipede endemic to the island — but there is one plant he pays extra special attention to.

Named after his own mother Margaret, the Achyranthes margaretarum bush is the only one of its kind living in the wild.

Margaret Christian, herself a ranger with the Norfolk Island National Park Service, discovered the plant alongside her friend and dedicated naturalist Honey McCoy.

Each time Mr Christian visits Phillip Island he harvests the plant's precious seeds to propagate.

"There's a sense of responsibility inside me to make sure this species doesn't disappear as well," he said.





Topics: conservation, environment, pests, norfolk-island-2899