Ball's Pyramid

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Image:Ball's Pyramid2.jpg Ball's Pyramid is a barren volcanic stack 20 km (13 miles) southeast of Lord Howe Island. It is 562 m high, while measuring only 200 m across. Ball's Pyramid is located at Template:Coor dms. It is part of the Lord Howe Island Marine Park.

Ball's Pyramid has a few satellite islets. Observatory Rock and Wheatsheaf Islet, lie about 800 m WNW and 800 m WSW, respectively, of the western extremity of Ball's Pyramid. Southeast Rock is a pinnacle located about 3.5 km southeast of Ball's Pyramid.

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History

The pyramid was named after Lieutenant Henry Ball who discovered it in 1788 at the same time he discovered Lord Howe Island (see the history section of that article). The first person to go ashore is believed to have been Henry Wilkinson in 1882, who was a geologist at the New South Wales Department of Mines.

The first successful climb to the summit was made on 14 February 1965 by a team of climbers from the Sydney Rock Climbing Club, Bryden Allen, John Davis, Jack Pettigrew and David Witham.<ref>Jack Pettigrew's climbing page, including reproduced Sydney Morning Herald front page</ref>

There had been an earlier attempt in 1964 by another Sydney team that included adventurer Dick Smith (then just 20 years old). They were forced to turn back on their fifth day running short of food and water. In 1979 Smith returned to the pyramid, together with climbers John Worrall and Hugh Ward, and they successfully made the summit. At the top they unfurled a flag of New South Wales provided to them by Premier Neville Wran and declared the island Australian territory (a formality which it seems had not previously been done).

Climbing was banned in 1982 under amendments to the Lord Howe Island Act, and in 1986 all access to the island was banned by the Lord Howe Island Board. In 1990 the policy changed to allow some climbing under strict conditions, which in recent years has required an application to the relevant state Minister (eg.<ref>Mr Fraser (Coffs Harbour) in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1 May 1996</ref>).

In 2000/2001 the Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) insect was found living on the pyramid.<ref>Giant stick insect rediscovered, science news 14 February 2001 at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation</ref>. (On the unsuccessful 1964 climb above, Dave Roots had brought back a photograph of the insect, which the Australian Museum told him they thought was extinct.)

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