Still called the thatch palm by many islanders, it was to become the most popular decorative palm in the world. 

Lord Howe Island Home of the Kentia Palm

The Kentia Palm is native to one tiny island in the entire world, an exquisite, remote island some 700 kilometres north east of Sydney, Australia. Lord Howe Island is a lonely and exotic outpost in the vast Pacific ocean. It is in this unique and isolated environment that the world's best selling indoor palm, the Kentia, naturally thrives.  Lord Howe Island was discovered by Lt Henry Lidgbird Ball on the 17th of February 1788. Early homes were built entirely from Kentia Palm leaves and this plant was  referred to as a "thatched palm". With the decline of whaling in the 1870s the Kentia Palm industry grew and helped to sustain the Island settlement. Today it is Lord Howe's second industry after tourism.

Lord Howe Island is a mere 11 km long by 2.8 km at its widest and boasts the southern most coral reef in the world.  Yet despite its size the island features a crystal clear coral lagoon, craggy mountains, rolling green pastures, and of course a pristine natural environment unlike anywhere else in the world.

In 1982 is was listed as world heritage for its exceptional natural beauty.