'Ah! could I tell the wonders of an isle'... contemplating island futures

This essay began as the opening address at the inaugural meeting of a new organisation, the Australian Small Islands Forum (ASIF) held in May 2012 on Lord Howe Island, some six hundred kilometres east of Port Macquarie on the coast of New South Wales, Australia. The island is one of a group of 28 ‚Äö- an archipelago. A small jewel in the subtropics, it is just under 15 square kilometres in area; a bow-shaped island, 10 kilometres long, and between 0.3 and 2.0 kilometres wide. Like many islands, Lord Howe has a lagoon side, to the west, and a more rugged eastern shore; most members of the population of c. 360 people live in low-lying areas in the north and west (Australian Bureau of Statistics), the south and east being densely forested and mountainous. Mount Gower, the highest part of the island, is 875 metres above sea level.