Nature and Science
The Norfolk Island group provides an important link between tropical and temperate oceanic island environments. Their remote location, coupled with colonisation by plants and animals dispersed over vast distances of ocean, means that they are important for their value as habitats for endemic species, habitats and breeding areas for species with limited distribution and migratory species including large colonies of breeding seabirds, and for their unique vegetation.
Norfolk and Phillip Islands are almost completely volcanic in origin, arising from the Pacific Ocean roughly 2.3-3 million years ago as masses of hot basalt. They form the highest point of the submerged Norfolk Ridge which stretches from New Zealand to New Caledonia. The Islands feature a range of dramatic landscapes, including the subtropical and viney hardwood forests of the park and Botanic Garden, the green rolling plains of the Kingston settlement, spectacular coastal cliffs and skylines dominated by majestic Norfolk Island pines.