Returning from Lord Howe fishing trip , writer in water at bow.
Lord Howe Island, population about 350, 600kms off Sydney , advertised as a pristine wonderland , even as the most beautiful island in the Pacific, is under threat by mankind’s pollution of the globe . A recent TV report showed disturbing footage of plastic washed up on the island , ending up in the intestines of birdlife , reducing the number of mutton birds in particular. I visited Lord Howe nearly 60 years ago , taking off from Sydney’s Rose Bay aboard a Sandringham flying boat , carrying 42 passengers , which landed in the lagoon , set against the spectacular cloud-capped twin peaks of Mount Gower and Mount Lidgbird, below.
There are fond memories and photographs of that trip- despite being violently ill during a fishing trip in view of Ball’s Pyramid , rising 552metres, said to be the world’s tallest monolith rising out of water , some 23kms south . I have a souvenir–a scar on my left leg due to stabbing myself with a penknife while making a hula skirt from a palm frond for a staff member at Kirby’s Pine Trees guesthouse for a fancy dress party . There were hardly any vehicles on the island, bicycles being the main form of transport.
As you cycled or trekked about Lord Howe there were several places where you could drop in for locally made fruit salad, which included guavas that grew in clumps . I slept in the boathouse to the left of the ramp in the above photograph on the lagoon shore , with a stirring view of the mountains, Rabbit Island , in the clear lagoon, the gleaming sands, the soothing waters caressing the shore at night. Robinson Crusoe never had it so good . Because my maiden aunt was employed as a hostess at the guest house I was given special privileges , made doubly welcome , introduced to island residents . Birdlife was abundant , and over at the ocean beach side of the island , where the waves pounded in , cowries and other interesting shells were found in the swirling waters.
A treasured find was a gleaming paper nautilus . The arrival and departure of the flying boat was a major event, especially watching the lumbering plane bounce across the lagoon. The disappearance in 1953 of an islander , Miss Kathleen Kimber, 40, connected to the Seppelt wine family of South Australia is an unsolved mystery. Her clothes were found at the top of a cliff.
There is a Darwin pioneering aviation link with Lord Howe. The daring British adventurer , Francis Chichester, who in 1929 unsuccessfuly attempted to break Bert Hinkler’s record from England to Darwin, in his Gypsy Moth , Madame Elijah, later landed his float attached plane in the lagoon in 1931 on a flight from NZ to Sydney via Norfolk Island and Lord Howe. Almost lost, in a squall, he brought the plane down , totally exhausted. The next morning , to his dismay, the plane was found to be upside down in the water. He spent nine weeks there dismantling the plane, making repairs, rebuilding. He then took off for Sydney.
In prehistoric days a large horned turtle lived on the island. Rats introduced from wrecked vessels proliferated and caused environmental damage to wildlife and the palm seed industry. They are still a problem, recently mentioned on the ABC’s Science Show. Plastic is being washed in from far and wide–Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. The Lord Howe Museum displays a Shearwater made out of a wide variety of plastic found on the beaches which includes milk and soft drink tops , bottles, glowing pieces off swordfish lines , balloon ties, cigarette tips ,etc. The Shearwater’s eye is the corner of a $10 note. A staggering 264 pieces of plastic were found in the intestine of a mutton bird , representing 15 per cent of its body weight.
The plastics scourge is a global problem. Last year Taiwan’s biggest ever food scare involved the discovery in sports and soft drinks of dangerous levels of industrial plasticisers, normally used to make a wide range of goods, including shoes and flexible hose pipes. China, Hong Kong, South Korea and the Philippines withdrew Taiwanese produce from supermarkets.The fear of polluted foodstuffs is such that Chinese tourists in New Zealand have been stocking up on baby formula . On SBS , the current Simon Reeve Tv series on the Indian Ocean has revealed the torrent of plastic being washed up on beaches in Kenya , destitute locals turning flip flops into toys and art , but the bulk of plastic just piling up on the sand . At Bali, now almost a suburb of Darwin, it has a growing problem of stream pollution and rubbish disposal which does not get a mention in the tourist brochures .
My aunt Gwen and maid Burniece ; handyman Tex with fish.
My aunt Gwen and maid Burniece ; handyman Tex with fish.
