Back in the mists of pre-history — before man was there to appreciate it a flowering evergreen rain forest tree grew as the First of its type. Unseen, the tree was developing, what would later be described, as the finest nut in the world.

Ironically, it took about 100,000,000 years for man to discover this tasty morsel in Australia and it then took another country to realize its potential.

Now, all countries involved with Macadamias have their story to tell. This story originates in Australia and attempts to record the sequence of the tree’s discovery and development and of the pioneers who played a part. The story is detailed in Australia and is summarized in Hawaii and other countries. It concludes during the 1960’s when the industry attained much of the form that exists today.

IN THE BEGINNING

When the continents of the earth were forming and South America, Africa, India, the Middle East and Australia were loosely joined, a tree evolved as a common ancestor of the family now known as the PROTEACEAE. The landmass separated into the form we know today and the Proteaceae developed into about 75 families or genera. This occurred by some combination of natural selection, hereditary variation and evolution.

About 50,000,000 years ago one variation existed in a form we would today recognize as the genus Macadamia.

Botanically, there are about 1000 species of Proteaceae and some well known members are the Banksias, Grevilleas, Stenocarpus, Dryandra, Hakea andTelopea. In Australia, the layman will see many trees, which have a similarity to the Macadamia and it is easy to understand the difficulties in identification, which took almost 100 years to resolve.

The genus Macadamia consists of two distinctive but allied groups divided into tropical and subtropical types. The tropical groups are native only to northeast Australia and the Celebes Island and according to current knowledge, consist of the species Macadamia hildebrandii and Macadamia whelani. These are both large trees, which do not produce edible fruit.

The three subtropical species are native to the coastal rain forest of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland in Australia and are the only species known to be graft compatible with commercial Macadamia varieties.

The three species are:

Macadamia tetraphylla — tetra = four (leaves); phylla = green

Macadamia integrifolia — entire leaves

Macadamia ternifolia — three leaves
 
 

Macadamia tetraphylla once described as the rough-shelled nuts and Macadamia integrifolia, the smooth shelled nuts are the only edible species, with the commercial industry largely based on the latter. Macadamia ternifolia is a smaller tree hearing tiny nuts with a bitter flavor.

In publications up until the 1950’s they were all described as variations of M. ternifolia. In this paper, only the two edible species will be considered except when the others become part of their history.

RAIN FOREST COUNTRY

Quite recently in the scale of time, much of Eastern Australia was covered by rain forest. The climate was warmer and rainfall higher. Over thousands of years, the climate changed and the rain forest retreated to a small part of the coastal strip.

When the white man came, the rain forest was seen to be of different distinct types and varied in area from ridges of a few acres, narrow strips along watercourses and, particularly in hilly country, covered thousands of acres. The type varied in vegetation from vine scrub, softwood forest, pine forest overlay and hardwood overlay and changed over small distances particularly at the edges of each portion. Curiously the rain forests were and are still described by the settlers as ‘Scrub", or "The Big Scrub" and "Brush", with the term "Forest" usually referring to the more open eucalypti type stands.

Overall, the rain forests were lush, rich, higher rainfall areas abounding in native flora and fauna tall trees seeking the sun, creepers, vines, staghorns, orchids and ferns forming generally a dense, and in places, impenetrable growth. Glorious soft and hardwood trees grew _ coachwood, antarctic and common beech, rosewood, tallowood, pines, palms, silky oak, red cedar, white cedar, Macadamias and many others.

The rain forests tended to grow on the well drained fertile soils usually of basaltic origin and, where the topography assured more rainfall, they extended back from the Pacific Ocean through to the mountain ranges which lay up to 150 km from the coast. In between the rain forest scrubs and to the west were expanses of open eucalypti type forests.

The Macadamias were scattered over this coastal strip for about 600 km roughly between present day Grafton in New South Wales and Maryborough in Queensland. Macadamias often grew on the edge of rain forests, in areas partly open, along creek beds and to some extent along the sides of the smaller ranges. In Queensland they often were found in the hoop pine scrubs gravitating to the drier edges. Few, if any trees were found above 1500 ft in elevation. Surprisingly, along watercourses, they were sometimes found on shallow soils over clay. While they did grow within the forests, they tended to perform better where more open conditions existed.

One of the apparent mysteries of the tree is its sparse distribution. The "domesticated" Macadamia is hardy and performs well in different climates and soils. In the rain forest, usually the Macadamias were present in small numbers and grew in scattered stands. They were only present in a part of the rain forest. There is no record of a native tree being found unless associated with a rain forest.

It is certain that the aborigines carried the nuts for long distances, and this practice was probably continued over thousands of years, with some nuts falling to the ground. The aborigines were skilled in the use of fire to drive game in the open country and the lush rain forests that were usually self protected.

The denseness of the rain forest would minimize their spread but the adaptive strategy of the native tree was poor. They had relatively shallow root systems, did not compete well with other trees and did not dominate other than small areas. In their native state, until they were of reasonable size, they had a poor survival mechanism, being relatively small, with low supplies of fruit and slow growing.

It seems that man already has established the tree in orchards with altered characteristics and has provided the resources required for wood and nut production. The "domesticated" Macadamia is becoming re-tailored to suit our requirements of economic return and probably we have only just started to explore its cultivated potential.

It is not easy to identify Macadamias in their native state. They tend to grow tall, often with multiple trunks and have small crowns. Usually they produce few nuts due to their limited foliage, competition from other trees and rain forest insects.

Their natural distribution has been poorly recorded and is not hilly known. One reason is that when Macadamias were found by the white settlers, a rapid spread of plantings occurred, particularly in settlements close to their native habitat and by the turn of the century these planted trees were mature and caused confusion as to whether they were native or introduced. Also, despite most informed opinions, there is sound evidence that apart from the main known-recorded stands of native trees, there were small patches of rain forest quite a distance from the known habitat where Macadamias grew. A few of these isolated areas are known, particularly in the Kin Kin and Buderim areas and this hints at the possibility of the native distribution being wider than thought. The early settlers have told Alva Haylock from Kin Kin that near native ternifolia trees there were often a few integrifolias on small volcanic scrub soils patches. A controversial sample held in Sydney is marked "Camden Haven — C. Moore? 1850-1860" and this area are approximately 300 km south of the Richmond River, which is normally regarded as the trees southernmost limits. This sample has never been confirmed. In "The Queensland Flora" F.M. Bailey 1901, the habitat is given as far north as the Dawson and Burnett Rivers approximately 100 km north of Maryborough, which is usually regarded as the northerly limit. It is known that Ferdinand von Mueller wrote in error on Leichhardt’s sample: "Dawson and Burnett Rivers" and this may have been the basis of Bailey’s statement.

To illustrate the difficulty in determining distribution, it has been reported that in the early 1930s an officer of the now Department of Primary Industries, in an apparently unpublished paper, estimated that the total number of native Macadamia trees in Australia last century was no more than 30,000.

A map showing the precise distribution of native trees would have to be large scale to be accurate and would have errors and omissions.

Macadamia integrifolia is native in reasonably large numbers from about 10 km south of Maryborough with small stands continuing as much as 100 km north, although none of these can be located now. They are present in the foothills of the first and sometimes second series of ranges west of the Mary River. Heavy stands occurred at Mt. Bauple and continued to Amamoor and Imbil. At Mooloo near the Mary Valley in the 1930s a Mr. Walker, while clearing the land, found a stand of very large native trees. Three of these were cut down and experienced foresters estimated them as being between 300 to 400 years old. Those remaining still bear well. Macadamia ternifolia grew in this same area and eastwards towards the coast. As far as can be established, Macadamia integrifolia grew mainly on the eastern or northern slopes with the ternifolia on the south sides. There do not appear to be native hybrids between integrifolias and ternifolias. At Mary’s Creek near Gympie, a number of native trees still grow on the creek banks of a large modern Macadamia orchard.

Apart from small isolated stands as mentioned previously, there were no native integrifolia trees from the source of the Mary River until south of Brisbane.

Ternifolias grew in the scrub north and south of Nambour and up into the foothills of the Blackall Range. No trees of any species have been recorded on the top of the Maleny plateau. Ternifolia grew in the Pine Rivers district and probably much closer to Brisbane, certainly in the Dayboro and Samford areas.

Integrifolias grew in very small areas south of Brisbane at Mt. Cotton, White’s Hill and Beenleigh. South of Beenleigh, the stands although scattered, were more frequent and more tree numbers were involved. No trees have been found on the western slopes of the ranges from the Albert River to the border. However, on the coastal side and particularly along watercourses, there were quite a number. The Coomera and Pimpama Valleys, the tributaries of the Coomera around Tamborine, parts of the Little Nernag Valley, Beechmont and Binna Burra had stands of integrifolia. This is the southern boundary of the integrifolia.

Below the southern boundary of integrifolias, a small number of hybrid trees showing intermediate characteristics between integrifolia and tetraphylla were located. There are two areas of hybrid trees being in the Tamborine and Numinbah Valleys and also in the Clagiraba-Advancetown area of the Numinbah Valley. The latter are interesting, as a 10 km Eucalypti forest appeared as a barrier from the native integrifolias. These natural hybrids are smaller than in the Numinbah Valley, which would suggest that hybridization could have occurred, after the eucalypti were cleared.

Tetraphyllas were native in the Numinbah Valley in Queensland and also along Tallebudgera and Currumbin Creek. Across the border they were present in the middle and south arm of the Tweed River, in the foothills of the ranges through Stokers Siding, Burringbar, The Pocket at Billinudgel, around Mullimbimby and the Brunswick River, and over the range at Nimbin. This strip is similar to the Mary Valley area of Queensland in that the trees while all tetraphyllas were on the eastern slopes at the edge of the coastal plains. Locals in the Hastings Point and Pottsville area are certain that some of the individual trees growing closer to the coast in or near small scrub patches are native trees.

From Ballina to Bangalow the first range is close to the coast and tetraphyllas grew in the "Big Scrub" there. The trees grew inland along the Richmond River Valley through Lismore and up to Casino 60 km from the sea. They also grew on the basaltic plateaux south of Alstonville and north towards Mullimbimby, particularly in the foothills of the larger ranges. The southern limit appears to be the Clarence River Valley surrounding Grafton about 100 km south of Lismore.

In most districts or valleys where native trees grew, these tended to have local characteristics and there are people who today can look at a seedling and indicate its source.

There is often a considerable difference between trees from one area to another and in Dr. Storey’s reports, he commented on variations in shell thickness from different areas.

In the tales of some of the old timers at their local hotel, the story is told of the visits of American botanists seeking to find good types of trees to take back to Hawaii. The locals delight in claiming to show the "Yanks" only reasonably good trees and know of others which are superior and should be kept for Australians. This seems a good "tall" tale but this writer has never heard where these superior trees hide!

But on a more serious note, there is a possibility that a detailed search may disclose trees of a standard worthy of selection and in the future the industry may have to support such a search. It will be slow and arduous and very time consuming, taking years to assess and much of the country is rugged, dense, and mountainous.

How many of these native trees exist today? Most people residing in or visiting any of the areas of natural habitat would see few if any. But in certain localities, despite clearing, there are still scattered trees and certainly more exist than most informed people believe.

ABORIGINES

Over the area of the trees’ natural distribution there lived at least twelve different aboriginal tribes. They had no fixed abode but within their own district moved mainly to where plant or animal food was most plentiful. They did not cultivate the ground.

Despite other reports, the Macadamia was only a very minor food to these people. None of the major reference books on Aborigines even mention the nuts. The reason was probably that in most areas only small numbers of nuts were produced and the native animals relished them too. However, where trees were in more open areas, they often produced large crops and these trees were well known and the nuts regularly gathered each autumn.

In spite of the small amount consumed, they were prized as a delicacy and regarded as one of their finest foods. The kernels were usually consumed raw, but in some tribes, the oil was partly extracted. It was used as a liniment base, as cosmetic oil, and as an aid to decoration of the face and body. The ternifolia varied in flavor from being slightly bitter to totally unpalatable and as far as is known, was not consumed. However, in north Queensland, the Macadamia whelani kernel was ground and washed in running water to remove the bitterness. In the Celebes, the natives were reported to eat the fruit of the hildebrandii.

In each locality the Aborigines had different names for the nut. "Boombera" was common in N.S.W. with the Pine River tribes calling them ‘‘Burrawang’’. In most of Queensland, they were called "kendal" or "kindal kindal". This name has become anglicized and euphonized with the most probable aboriginal pronunciation being "gyndnl".

Their main method of cracking the shell is interesting. They found a hard rock with a depression, which would hold the nut and placed a fiat wedge shaped stone on top. This was struck with a heavy stone and worked effectively. It’s worth trying and does less damage than a hammer.

At some of the aboriginal feasting grounds or middens, the early white settlers found heaps of shells. The black man could collect the nuts in his dilly bag and carry them to the tribe. At Redland Bay south of Brisbane, despite piles of shells, there were no native trees within 10 kilometers.

ERA OF THE CAUCASIAN

Captain James Cook sailed past the coast in 1770 and the first white man landed in Macadamia country in 1799. In 1824 the Moreton Bay Settlement, later to become Brisbane was established. Explorers and botanists began to probe the land.

During the 1830s free settlers began to work their way north from Sydney and a few made their homes close to the 50 mile restricted Brisbane area.

In 1837, the schooner, "Susan" entered the Clarence River and the following year the first settlers came to the Grafton area. The Lismore area and the Richmond River Valley were settled in 1840 with the Tweed Valley in 1843. Then in 1842, Brisbane was opened for settlement and was used as a port. The pioneers of this land quickly spread into adjacent areas. Most of the land was settled for pastoral purposes; Kilcoy in 1841 and the Mary Valley during the late l840s. The most northerly Macadamia country, around Tiaro, was settled in 1842.

In New South Wales, the beautiful rain forest with its red tipped promise of wealth — the red cedar, lured man further and further north from Sydney. In the early 1840s the "Big Scrub" echoed with the sound of the axe as men cut almost every cedar tree, sniggled them to streams to be floated down the rivers and carried to Sydney. These men lived in the scrub. They sought food from the scrub and surely they noticed and almost certainly, tasted the Macadamia. No records have been found but probably amongst these pioneers was the discoverer of the Macadamia.

18TH SEPTEMBER 1843

Exploration of the Brisbane district commenced in 1825 and botanical searches were a major part of the explorers’ tasks. These men kept records and took samples but the scattered Macadamia apparently eluded them.

Ludwig Leichardt is famous in Australian history for his explorations of east and north Australia. Whilst having no formal training, he was a gifted botanist and collected plant specimens during his travels. In 1843 he came to Brisbane to collect more plant specimens and made his base at Durundur Station about 60 km north and 30 km from the coast, close to present day Kilcoy. For six months he searched the sparsely populated country. To his east were the Glasshouse Mountains, to the north, the Conondale Range with Maleny Plateau on its east and the Mary River Valley to its west with the river continuing north to the present day cities of Gympie and Maryborough. Amongst his specimens was one, which was the first collected Macadamia. It was a flowering specimen of Macadamia ternifolia without fruit. The specimen was not named. This sample is still held in the Melbourne National Herbarium. It hears the words in Leichhardt’s writing "Dullabi/ B. Bunya brush/18 September 43". Dullabi was a station area and Bunya Bunya the aboriginal name of the Conondale Range. Later Ferdinand von Mueller was to mistakenly believe this area to have been dies Bunya Mountains 150 km to the west and he wrote over the label "Dawson and Burnett Rivers". The place where the sample was taken can be identified to within a few kilometers. Without doubt, Leichardt must be credited as the discoverer of the Macadamia.

1857

Over the next fifteen years, the land became more settled, rain forests were cleared and development began.

Brisbane was growing rapidly and to assist agriculture and record knowledge, a Botanical Reserve, later to become the Brisbane Botanical Gardens was established, less than one kilometer east of the town center and on the riverbank. The first Superintendent was Walter Hill, a Scottish Botanist. He planted two Bunya pines alongside the circular drive, both of which exist today, and grew cotton, sugarcane, arrowroot and ginger, all of which became major crops in Queensland.

Australia’s greatest botanist was Baron Ferdinand von Mueller. He personally described over 500 new species, sought over 15,000 miles on foot and horseback and collected 45000 specimens in his first nine years in Australia.

Early in 1857, Mueller while in Brisbane for several months and mainly in the company of Walter Hill collected specimens from the area. From the Pine River district, about 30-km north of Brisbane, they studied a ternifolia tree, found open shells, but no fruit and collected a branch, which is also in the herbarium at Melbourne.

The main scientific organization in Australia during the 1850’s was the Philosophic Institute of Victoria (later to become the Royal Society of Victoria) and it was to this group that on the 5th August 1857, Dr. Mueller described over twenty new Australian plants. He prefaced his account as follows: "These plants have perhaps, no other claims on your attention, but their novelty".

He described and named the Genus Macadamia and the species ternifolia. Part of his words was "a beautiful genus dedicated to John Macadam Esq. M.D. the talented and deserving Secretary of our Institute".

A plate showing the plant was attached but Mueller, in error, had mixed his labels and had drawn one of the Grevellias. At this stage, the fruit of the tree was unknown.

In Brisbane from this time, Walter Hill was collecting and planting seeds of many types both native and imported, to determine their suitability and value to the Moreton Bay Settlement. The story handed down is that in his searches, the aborigines told him the ternifolia was poisonous. Hill then collected nuts from an integrifolia tree, not realizing its difference from previous trees, except for size. This sample was marked "Moreton Bay District" and presumably came from south of Brisbane.

Back at the Botanic Gardens (Reserve) he gave a number of these seeds to an unknown young assistant to crack on a vice. He assumed that they would not germinate easily unless removed from the hard shell. To his horror, Hill found his assistant eating some of the kernels and proclaiming them outstanding. Several days later, when the lad’s health remained sound Walter Hill tasted a kernel and became the second white man to realize their potential. It was almost twelve months from Mueller and Hill’s discovery before the nut was tasted.

On the banks of the Brisbane River, Walter Hill planted in 1858 the first, cultivated Macadamia tree. This tree is now growing in dense rainforest and is strong and healthy. It still bears a crop of thick-shelled nuts and has a girth, at the base, of 8 foot. Walter Hill apparently was the first promoter of these nuts. Probably it was through him that so many trees were planted in the 1960s. Unfortunately all his records were lost in 1893 when a flood destroyed his former house and office.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME

John Macadam, born in 1827, was a Scotsman, tall, with long red hair and beard. He was a Doctor of Medicine but did not practice. In Australia, from 1855 he was firstly a lecturer in Chemistry and Natural Science at Scots College, Melbourne. He held the posts of Government Analytical Chemist, then Health Officer of Melbourne and was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1859, becoming Post Master General in 1861. He was an outstanding speaker and promoter in analytical medicine. In 1857 he was the Honorary Secretary of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria and later became its President. He died in 1865 largely doe to self-neglect because of overwork. There is no record of him ever seeing a Macadamia tree or tasting the fruit.

EARLY RECORDS

The early settlers led a harsh life, but most realized the potential wealth of the land. Records are few but what we have showed an immediate appreciation of the quality of the nut. From about 1860 the settlers discovered, discussed and cultivated Macadamias. Communication was difficult but very important and we can imagine settlers meeting and one telling the other about the nut tree from the hills or the nuts, which Walter Hill recommended. Then at their next visit, taking a few nuts, or maybe a tree to plant and in this way a lot of trees were distributed.

From the late 1860s Macadamias started to be carried out of their native habitat, firstly to other parts of Australia and then to the rest of the world. The impetus to this rapid spread was botanical interest but more importantly, the delicacy of flavor and texture of the nut. Few, if any, of the other newfound foods could have made such a favorable impression at first tasting.

Naturalists, such as C. Moore, had by 1860 forwarded specimens to the N.S.W. authorities. Bentham in "Flora of Australia" in 1870 described the tree. Von Mueller in both 1860 and 1868 in "Fragments of Phytography (Australia)" described Macadamia but under the genus Helicia. In 1870 Gardner in the "Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette" described the tree and nut.

At this time, due to explorations in many countries and better communication, botanists were most active in the discovery and distribution of agricultural and horticultural plants. Governments were encouraging and assisting botanists in obtaining plant material to try in their own country.

The first printed information on the cultivation of Macadamias was in 1893 and was a four-page leaflet: "The Cultivation of the Australian Nut", by F. Turner, N.S.W. Agricultural Gazette. Mr. White, the Government Botanist, published a similar pamphlet much later in Queensland.

Botanists were active, but confused in classifying the genus and species. Maiden and Betche in "Proceedings Linnean Society of N.S.W" 1897 and Maiden in "Flora N.S.W." 1904 described trees, distribution and listed types. F.M. Bailey in "The Queensland Flora" 1901 added to botanical knowledge at that time. It was in 1954 that L.A.S. Smith, the Queensland Government Botanist, resolved and finalized the three species.

Both N.S.W. and later Queensland Governments assisted in the early distribution of seed. In the late 1870s The College of Agriculture at Berkeley in California, through Professor Dwinelle, an American Horticulturist, planted seeds and these probably are the trees at their University, one of which is still living.

In the early 1880s, William H. Purvis obtained seeds and these were planted at Kukuhaile on the Island of Hawaii. These seeds came from the Mt. Bauple area and apparently were not a good type.

At the beginning of this century, the French Horticulturist, M.E. Andre reported that in the harsh winter of 1890-91 specimen trees survived in the south of France.

In 1882 a tree was planted in the Botanic Gardens at Singapore and at about the turn of the century, trees were growing in the Malay Peninsula and Java. T.G. Hewitt from Lismore sent selected seed to the West Texas Nursery in 1892. By the start of the century trees were planted also in Chile, China, island of Saipan, New Britain and several Pacific Islands. By 1920 there were more trees in France, Algeria and through the Mediterranean.

Hubert Rumsey (of Rumsey Seeds) was one of Australia’s leading proponents of Macadamias and has recorded dispatching large numbers of seeds from 1910 to many countries. In 1926, a planter from Kenya was arranging to plant trees for fruit and shade. In 1930 Mr. Symonds planted an orchard in West Australia. In 1931 seed was sent to South Africa from Hawaii.

One of the gaps in this history is in the early years of the Northern Rivers of N.S.W. No records have been found of the discoverer in N.S.W. and apart from a few reports which lack detail very little is known until the late 1870s.

All we do know is that during the 1860s both tetraphyllas and integrifolias became well known and were regarded as fine nuts, which were planted widely, usually as single trees.

As the settlers were taking up the country, land was cleared for small crops, grazing and dairying. The clearing was done by ringbarking, by axe, or by fire. The areas of rain forest usually had the richest soils and also the softwood tree stumps decomposed quickly. These were cleared first but because of the work involved, performed in stages.

Many of the native Macadamias were destroyed but here and there one was spared, another suckered after the axe or fire, or a tree grew from seed. Now, in the 1980s the only settled areas where significant numbers of native trees remain are in the Numinbah Valley around Tamborine and in the hills of the Mary Valley. Small numbers remain in the Tweed, Brunswick and Richmond Valleys.

So before a commercial industry really started to develop anywhere in the world there had been a wide distribution of seed and trees planted and assessed in many tropical, subtropical and temperate countries.

In many of these countries, the trees grew, but in few countries did the trees show prospects of becoming a commercial crop. The quality of the kernels was universally acclaimed. Luther Burbank, the well-known plant breeder from the United States was reported early this century as describing Macadamias as "the world’s best eating nut".

MACADAMIAS IN AUSTRALIA

There were many single trees planted in the early years- sonic still living, which became well known. One tree still hearing and very healthy was planted at Alstonville about 1870. This property was acquired by the New South Wales Government and is now the Alstonville Tropical Fruit Research Station.

James Collins planted a tree in the 1860s at Redland Bay, which is still living, although declining. Before being heavily pruned, it was very large and in 1960, produced over 300 lbs. of nuts in shell. Nuts from this tree were sent to the United States and used at W.R. Petrie’s nursery early in the century.

The Petrie family, through several generations, played a very important part in Brisbane's history and was early promoters of the nut. Toni Petrie selected seed from the Buderim area in 1865 and planted trees at Murrumba north of the town of Petrie. These trees have been destroyed but one measured in 1931 was 13 meters high and had a foliage diameter of 17 meters.

Dr. Bancroft, an early Brisbane naturalist, planted some Macadamia trees around Brisbane about 1870. One in a park, which now hears his name, was well known and so large that it was cut down in 1901 to prevent children climbing to gather nuts.

Marketing of Macadamias began with the aboriginal tribes who used to collect nuts and sell or barter these. South of Brisbane, based at a camp near Mount Stapylton, King Jacky of the Albert River Tribe developed a trade with these nuts, collecting them from the hills to the south. Together with honey and passionfruit, he traded these, probably for tobacco and rum.

At Mount Bauple, North of Gympie, where possibly the largest area of native trees grew, settlers from Tiaro would, in the late 1870s, hitch their drays and journey to the mountain each winter. A Mrs. Graham from Brisbane remembers her mother telling of going with other children to meet the drays and be given enough nuts for a feast. These nuts found a ready- sale in Brisbane and Maryborough and were probably the first commercial sales.

The nuts had many early names; some still used, in certain localities to this day. In N.S.W. they were called Bush Nuts or Mullimbimby Nuts. Further north, they were called Queensland Nuts. Bauple Nuts (or Bopple and Popple) and in all areas, Australian Nut, Poplar and Nut Oak.

THE FIRST ORCHARD

The start of the industry was sonic time between 1878 and 1888 when the first commercial orchard was planted. Using seed from nearby native trees in the hills, the orchard was situated at Rous Mill near Lismore in N.S.W. A Mr. Charlie Staff planted the original trees on 3 acres with a 4.5 m x 4.5-m spacing. The orchard passed to a Mr. Austen and a Mr. Collard (whose relations later were to plant at Maleny) and in 1896 was purchased by a Mr. Frederickson and has remained in the family ever since. Cattle destroyed sonic younger trees but the orchard still remains and is in reasonably sound condition. Despite quickly becoming overcrowded, the orchard produced between 1-3 tons of nuts in shell per year.

In 1888 Mr. Barlow planted another tetraphylla orchard at Teven Creek near the Richmond River. One of the prominent families in the Northern Rivers history was the Hewitts. In the 1860s, a Mr. Hewitt was Mayor of Grafton and took an interest in the nuts. His son, T.G. Hewitt, a journalist, founded the "Northern Star", Lismore’s newspaper and was a promoter of the nut. For many years, he selected seed from all sources, planted experimental trees, and in 1890 had established a small orchard.

By the turn of the century, there were five tetraphylla orchards in N.S.W. but apart from large numbers of specimen trees, none were known in Queensland. During the first decade of the twentieth century there was a strong demand for the nuts, mainly locally, but also at the Brisbane and Sydney markets. As a young girl, Marjorie Bulcock remembers collecting nuts from planted trees near Maleny about 1910 and selling them at 10 pence per pound through the Brisbane markets. The market was limited by low supply, poor quality, particularly thick shells, and by the lack of any means to commercially crack them. Just like today, people rapidly tired of hand-cracking the nuts. The crop marketed from native and cultivated trees was between 5-10 tons per year selling at an average price of 7 pence per pound.

To some extent the first twenty years of the new century were ones of consolidation with a few orchards being planted in N.S.W. Overall, apart from the enthusiasts, it was a period of assessing and experimenting. The two State Departments of Agriculture were active in this period in acquiring knowledge of this new crop and preparing for the time when they hopefully could recommend it.

One of the enthusiasts and leaders of the industry was John Bucknell Waldron. In 1896 he was the bantamweight-boxing champion of Brisbane. In preparing for a light, he would train in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, which was only a short distance from the boxing stadium. He found the tree planted by Walter Hill and cracked a few nuts. For the rest of his long life he lived for growing, developing, processing and promoting this nut. When he retired from boxing he purchased a 200-acre property at Upper Eungella on the Tweed River behind Murwillumbah. The property was selected because of the native nut trees growing there. The property was called Stoke Orchard and he immediately set about developing a cottage industry. Firstly, he examined native trees both on his property and in the hills, seeking seed for planting. He commenced cracking and processing and by 1907 was producing roasted and salted Macadamia kernels. Then in 1910 he found a native tetraphylla, which was vigorous and produced heavy crops of thin shelled nuts. He planted this seed river several generations in an attempt to reliably produce trees with the characteristic of the original.

Over the next fifty years he processed his own crop together with other nuts, which came mainly from native trees. He didn’t have a mechanical cracker but all his life used a small hammer with the nut placed on an anvil and he averaged twenty-five pounds of nuts in shell per day. During his life he hand-cracked about 8,000, -000 nuts. The whole kernels were roasted in a revolving drum, fitted over the fireplace of his wife’s wood fired laundry boiler (copper). He mixed broken kernels with honey, produced Macadamia oil on a hand built press (obtaining $20 per gallon) and made Macadamia Brittle. In 1932 he launched "Bush Nut Butter". Kernels which darkened excessively during cooking were ground with coffee beans, and roasted with Macadamia oil to produce a Macadamia Coffee (misnamed Almond Coffee) which he patented and hoped all his life to market on a large scale.

Most of these years he sold his packs from a horse drawn wagon, selling to shops, banks and offices in Murwillumbah and nearby towns. He was continually working to "perfect" a thin shelled nut tree and distributed seed to interested people. By 1932 he had 500 thin shelled nut trees bearing and then planted another 1500. The price for nuts in shell was about 4 pence per pound in his district at that time.

He died in the 1960s and in his last years in retirement on the coast, he still hands cracked and roasted nuts.

The major error of Waldron, and this applied to the whole industry until the 1950s, was the belief that tree characteristics could be reproduced by planting selected seed and over several generations certain trees would produce true to type. Even Cheel and Morrison of the N.S.W. Department of Agriculture in their report of 1935 stated that some trees would produce true to type.

Another enthusiast was Herbert J. Rumsey from Sydney. Rumsey was the owner of Australia’s largest nursery and became an active supporter and promoter of the nut. About 1910 he was supplying seed to interested people including an order for 10,000 to the United States Department of Agriculture who produced trees for planting in California, Texas, Florida and Hawaii. He studied trees in Honolulu in 1915 and over most of this period was selling seed nuts and seedling trees. During the late 1920s he published a book "Australian Nuts and Nut Growing in Australia" containing 70 pages, over 40 of which concerned the Macadamia. He became the inaugural President of the Australian Nut Association and was involved with Macadamias for at least fifty years.

The hesitant industry came into being in the 1920s and the previous experimental work started to hear "fruit". In N.S.W., apart from Waldron’s work, Mr. J. Banner of Mullimbimby and Mr. Max Renolds of Murwillumbah had located thin-shelled native trees and had produced trees, which were their second generation. Mr. Banner sent nuts, which could be cracked with the teeth to the Wollongbar Experiment Farm. Apparently this was the goal and standard of early experimenters, as there seemed little prospect of being able to mechanically crack shells of normal thickness. A Mr. S. Greer had a nursery and orchard at Dungay near Murwillumbah. One of the developments over the next twenty years was to interplant Macadamias with bananas on the steep hill sides with the intention of the nut trees providing an income when the bananas declined. Mr. Gaggin of Mullimbimby was time first to plant an orchard in this way.

The N. S.W. Department of Agriculture at their Wollongbar Experimental Farm studied the culture of Macadamias and planted seed from promising trees. They also carried out vegetative propagation trials using several different approaches although without success. The Manager of the farm was a Mr. A. Haywood, followed by Mr. George McGillwray. At their Grafton Farm Mr. R. Kebby and Mr. Jeater also carried out propagation trials. Also the Government's Duranbah Experimental Station near Murwillumbah carried out selection and cultural work.

In Queensland, The Department of Agriculture and Stock (later to become Primary Industries) was encouraging people to grow Macadamias commercially and had carried out surveys and investigations. The Queensland Acclimatization Society was formed by private citizens in tile last century and did a lot of work in developing horticultural and other crops. Dr. Benson, Director of Horticulture with the Government, was one of the leading forces ill the Society. The Society was a strong supporter of Macadamias and greatly assisted cultural advances at that time. Experimental work was carried out at Lawnton in the Pine district and a major project was their trials with open cross-pollination.

The first orchard in Queensland was situated near Coolum and consisted of about 30 tetraphylla trees planted by Ernest Fisher about 1910. Then Petrie supplied several hundred trees, which were planted at Granville near Maryborough between 1916-1919. 1917 saw the first significant commercial orchard planted which was owned by Mr. Alex Probert at Flaxton on the Blackall Range above Nambour. Mr. Sherry of the Department supplied the seed from selected thin-shelled stock. Mr. Probert’s neighbor, Mr. Bornholdt, was another enthusiast. He apparently traveled extensively and had obtained promising seed from N. S.W., which he planted and assessed before supplying seed to other glowers.

The 1920s and l930s were the promising years in Australia. Demand for the tints was high, enthusiasm was obvious and there were a large number of dedicated growers, experimenters and promoters. Significant plantings took place during this time in both N.S.W. and Queensland. In New South Wales, the majority of the plantings were in the Tweed and Brunswick district. Major growers in this area were J. Waldron, F. Whittle, S. Greer, J.L. Banner, S. Maunsell, A. Michie, R. Brooks, F. Johnston, G. Collis, G. Stanley, F. Rye, H. Colefax, I. McDonald, I. Blackney, H. Paterson, F. Atkins, F. Hobbs, E. Pfluckis, I. King, I. Watts and the Angus brothers.

Plantings also were made in the Richmond River district east of Lismore and in retrospect different from the Tweed in that many of these orchards survived and are still producing commercial crops.

Initially only tetraphyllas were planted in New South Wales until about 1931 when integrifolia seed was introduced. However, in this area, growers tended to remain loyal to their own species as distinct from Queensland where both species were being planted at this time.

Mr. Foreman Crawford planted an orchard at Alstonville in 1921 and 40 years later, a grafted orchard in the same area. Mr. Crawford, while retired, is still active in the industry. A Mr. Wilson planted 500 trees at Uralba in the 1920s and other growers were A. Gaggin, J. Gray, J. Allen, H. Findlay and S. Hodge.

Of major assistance to the industry was the marketing by the N .S .W. Banana Growers Federation that provided a reliable and continuing buying service and to a slight extent, processing until the 1970s.

Over the border in Queensland, plantings commenced and then continued. By 1927, the Queensland Government had distributed seed and several hundred trees and W.R. Petrie at Yebri Nursery lad a small orchard and a large nursery. Some of his "varieties" included Smooth Queen, Eggshell, Venus, Comet, Pearl, Planet, Rough King and Large Everbearer.

A number of orchards were planted on the Blackall Range, — Collards in 1919, Eric Howard, Alcorn, Andy Jacobsen and Jack Hurwood, all establishing orchards at Maleny and Montville mainly using seed from the Rous Mill Orchard. These orchards are still producing.

The orchard in Mill Hill Road, Montville was planted by Alfred Bowser in 1929 and at one stage was owned by the author, Elanor Dark and then by R.H. Young.

South of Brisbane, Sewell and Wilson had orchards at Tamborine. At Mudgeeraba behind the Gold Coast, Dave Tulloch had a large orchard as well as A. Burns and L. Grimshaw. Clifford Rankin (home of the HY variety) had native and planted trees at Beechmont, Keith Taylor at Tomewin, and the Mark Brothers at Woongoolba and McCullough’s 5 acres on Russell Island in Moreton Bay. Also there were small orchards of Jim Hinde and H. Latimer at Gilston in the Nerang Valley. The Hinde orchard later owned by William and Ivy Hill had several outstanding trees, the best forming the variety H2, probably now the heaviest bearing variety in Australia and extensively planted in the Northern Rivers of N.S.W. The parent tree produced between 300 and 400 lbs. of nuts in shell most years. The only orchard in the Brisbane areas was Ivan Armanasco’s at the Blunder and that was planted later than those listed above.

The northern orchards were Fitzpatrick’s at Gildora. Norm Greber’s at Amamoor, Mason’s at Long Pocket, Hansen’s at Goomboorian, all in the Gympie district. Mr. Charlie Cope at North Deep Creek near Gympie planted 1200 trees in conjunction with bananas and tong oil nut trees but this was all burnt out in the 1940s. Norm Greber, the Patron of the Australian Macadamia Society, was and still is one of the industry’s leading enthusiasts. He carried out a lot of selection in planting his orchard and became the first person to achieve successful grafting rates in Australia. He later worked for the CSR Company and now in busy retirement, on his small orchard at Beerwah, is selecting new varieties and his ambition is to take available superior local varieties for commercial plantings in Australia.

Another pioneer, Mr. Bernie Mason also still active in retirement, developed his 8-acre orchard named "Integrifolia" in the late 1930s. He did some selections, built and operated a small processing plant and his orchard consistently produces 5-8 tons per year and was for many years the largest producing orchard in Australia. In the early part of World War II, Bernie was given some Italian prisoners of war, which prepared and planted the main part of his orchard. Further north, E. O’Mara had an orchard at Mt. Bauple, Wragge and Staib near Maryborough and in the same area, 6 acres at Tinana planted by the Rickard brothers.

All the orchards mentioned were regarded as commercial but some were only of about 20 to 50 trees. There were other growers, but unfortunately these records are not available.

Public interest in the nut was so high that during the 1930s it was estimated reliably that there were 20,000 specimen trees planted in residences in Brisbane and with similar trees from Grafton to Maryborough, there would have been over 30,000 garden trees in existence.

One of the problems restricting marketing and also expansion of planting was the difficulty in cracking the shell. This had the effect of reducing the price to the grower and was a major disadvantage in the eye of the consumer. John Waldron was cracking by hand and various people were experimenting with cracker designs.

Some United States crackers had been tried without success. Mr. Penfold, the curator of the Sydney Technological Museum had sent samples of the nuts to various overseas countries with no success. Always there were stories of a cracker somewhere that was outstanding. It wasn’t that the nuts wouldn’t crack, but the overall result was not acceptable. The main problems were kernel damage, size grading and rapid machine wear.

Several growers experimented with crackers. One of these was F.W. Whittle who in 1930 planted 40 acres in the hills behind Murwillumbah as well as purchasing a small hearing orchard. Firstly he designed and built a de-husker and then in 1936, his own cracker. It consisted of two large round steel plates with square sections welded radially. One plate turned and the graded nuts cracked easily.

The major problem with Mr. Whittle’s cracker as well as all other attempts up until the 1940s was that the nuts were only farm dried to about 10% moisture content. Drying to 1-2% gives far more efficient results.

As a sideline the smaller nuts were sold and made into fancy buttons and the wind blown trees used to supply timber, particularly for veneers. It produces an attractive open grain with a hard finish, which is brittle but hard to work.

All the work, enthusiasm and expectations led to the formation of the Australian Nut Association on 17th July 1932. About fifty delegates who represented most of the industry attended and Hubert Rumsey was elected President. The promoter of the association who declined office was Norman C. Hewitt, the son of T.G. Hewitt. Norman Hewitt only had 25 trees hut was a great journalist and historian, lie sought the support of the Government and of the Banana Growers Federation and was responsible for organizing this meeting. The meeting was presided over by H.L. Anthony (the father of the Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister in 1980) who was President of the N.S.W. Banana Growers Federation, which assisted in marketing, and growing of the crop.

The chief decision of the meeting was ''… that the nut shall henceforth be known as the Australian Nut owing to its patriotic sentiment and the worth of the name for advertising purposes". The President also suggested that the use of other names by members (particularly Bush Nut which was considered common) would in the first instance bring a caution and for a second offence bring expulsion from the Association.

Also the meeting recommended that trees be planted 24 to 30 feet apart in an endeavor to prevent closer spacing.

The name "Australian Nut" did not last. Even the President in 1935 referred to "Macadamias the Australian Nut". It took until 1958 to finalize the name, as "Queensland" had become accepted by people a little further north. The Queensland Department of Primary Industries made the Macadamia name decision, which was adopted by almost everyone.

The association quoted yield figures at the time of 10-lbs. nut in shell for 10-year-old trees; 28 lbs. for 14-year-old trees and 84 lbs. at 24 years. Also at the first meeting was the introduction of the "Red Devil Cracker’’ which used a flywheel with blades, was hand operated and claimed to be very effective. Before this, Rumsey was selling the "Macacracka" for thirty-five cents.

During the 1920s and 1930s, there was intense patriotism concerning the nut and strong feelings about other countries growing it (particularly as they seemed to be more successful). The editorial of "The Daily Examiner" in 1926 had as its heading "Another Industry for the Foreigner" and stated that foreigners had no right to plant it. In the early 1930s an article stated that "a company in Hawaii had 120 acres of OUR nut industry there".

Commercial processing developed slowly. Steve, Nick and George Angus were three brothers who came from Greece in the 1920s. In the 1930s they lived at North Tumbulgum on the Tweed River and operated a fruit shop at Murwillumbah. John Waldron sold them kernels and started their interest, however, the supply did not meet the demand; they planted their own orchard on the hills in conjunction with bananas.

Then in 1939 following correspondence with an uncle in Hawaii, they ordered a cracker designed by a Japanese Hawaiian. War intervened and the cracker although built, was never sent. At this time, they were making a chocolate Macadamia and Waldron was charging $1.00 per kilo for kernels.

When World War II ended, they bought a cracker and separator but it didn’t work well; then a Wiley cracker from the United States was tried. However, it was not until the need for full dehydration was realized that a processing industry developed about 1950. They remained the only commercial processors in Australia for over 20 years. Shortly after World War II the Macadamia Production Pty. Ltd. Company was offering, free of charge, over 3000 acres of land close to Brisbane to anyone who would plant nut trees. The venture did not succeed.

Growers received prices between 4-lod per pound from 1910 to 1950 and a premium for thin shelled quality nuts. Sales at 15 d per pound in 1935, 7d in 1941 and 9 d in 1949 were recorded with kernels selling at 35d per pound in 1931.When the Angus brothers commenced processing, prices rose and remained steady at about 20d/lb.

In 1933 there were between 200 and 300 acres in Queensland and about the same amount in New South Wales with more orchards steadily being planted. Production varied with between 20 and 60 tons reaching the market.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THOSE TREES AND EXPECTATIONS OF SO MANY PEOPLE?

The acreage actually declined during the 1940s and 1950s. Simply, it was the problems of many new crops and the fate of most pioneers.

Overall the orchards did not produce well due to seedling variability, insect pests and lack of knowledge of tree requirements and culture. The inability to crack them was a major restriction and this resulted in lower than expected returns. Fire, low kernel quality, even lower kernel recovery and regrowth of native vegetation on the hills were problems.

Most of these orchards became neglected, then overgrown and eventually, fire swept through and they were gone. Particularly on the steeper hills around the Tweed, the land was difficult to work and regrowth a problem. From a total planting of about 900 acres, over sixty years, only about 100 remained. Some that did performed well, particularly where tree spacing allowed growth and the trees were to some extent wind protected.

Then 100 years after the ‘official’ discovery of the nut, Dr. Lennox Davidson, an Agricultural Consultant was instrumental informing Dr. Macadam Pty. Ltd. This company which later lapsed, planned the development of a large commercial orchard at Port Macquarie 300 km north of Sydney.

In 1962, the Colonial Suger Refining Co. Ltd., one of Australia’s biggest and oldest public companies, (later to change its name to CSR Ltd.) decided to investigate the prospects for a large scale Macadamia industry in Australia. The four main problems were identified as:

CSR also acted jointly with Mr. Steve Angus in developing manufacturing skills, which laid the basis for building a new modern factory near Nambour in 1979.

The techniques developed by CSR made possible the subsequent development of other commercial plantings and the end of the long period of backyard and cottage Macadamia industry.

So while the enthusiasts remained, it is ironic that in retrospect, they and the Government departments contributed so little to the commercializing of the industry. Hawaii recognized a lot earlier the need for relatively large capital involvement and for basic researches to determine the trees cultural requirements.

After all these years, the industry expanded and at last it appeared that the nut could be produced successfully in Australia.

CALIFORNIA

Following the first trees in the 1870s at the University at Berkeley, there were a number of specimen trees planted over the next seventy years. With the wide distribution of seed in the early years, trees were being planted largely as curiosities and often without being properly identified. Several trees planted at that time are still living. One was planted by a Mr. David Balch in the 1890s alongside his home at Coronado. This tree is now know as the Heinecke Tree after the home purchasers in the 1940s who hand processed the crop each year and sent nuts to friends as Christmas gifts.

The "Faulkner" tree, west of Santa Paula was planted about the turn of the century by the Faulkner family and was obtained from a nursery in Florida. Trees at nearby Santa Paula also were planted about the same time.

In the early part of this century a large nursery, Lyon and Cobbe and a Mr. Pierce of Santa Ana were selling tetraphylla seedling trees and following this, a Mr. Ernest Bortmann sold trees by calling from house to house. Many of the early trees planted came from these sources.

Small plantings continued on this basis and by the end of World War II there were about 300 bearing trees in California, most being tetraphyllas. During the War many United States servicemen had passed through or been based in Hawaii and there had tasted the delicacy. It was through the large troop movement that so many people developed an interest in its promotion. During the war, food packets were sent to troops around the world and sometimes they contained Macadamias. In many cases, rats would attack the packs and it is reported that the Macadamias always were eaten first, even to the extent of rats knowing through tin lids. Following the war, there was an interest in trying to establish a Macadamia industry in California. At that time, California was seeking new horticultural crops particularly as their avocado orchards had suffered heavy losses from root rot. The University of California investigated Macadamias as a potential replacement crop using the existing seedling trees to gather information on growth and cropping.

The first commercial orchard was planted in February 1946 and was of 203 tetraphylla seedlings, probably all from the one parent tree at Santa Ana. Mr. Robert Todd at South Oceanside planted the property. These trees became known as the Schneider Orchard.

Other orchards were established, none of a large size and as a result, interest grew in the nut. This interest lead to the formation in 1953 of the California Macadamia Society.

While it now appears unlikely that a significant commercial industry will be established in California or other parts of the mainland United States, the Society has played a major role in contributing to world knowledge and interest and particularly in disseminating this knowledge.

AND NOW TO HAWAII

The Hawaiian Story obviously had to start from Australia. As far as is known the first importation of seed was between 1881 and 1885 by William H. Purvis. These seeds were planted at Kukuihaele in the Hamakua district on the Island of Hawaii. These seeds came from between Gympie and Mt. Bauple and were not of a promising type. The evidence is conflicting hut based on comments by Dr. W.T. Pope it seems likely that at least some of these trees were the true ternifolia species.

In 1892 a group of United States botanists were in Australia studying native plants and from the Murwillumbah area collected tetraphylla seeds. It is possible that these all came from a single parent tree and again they were not of a good type.

Trees from these tetraphylla seeds were included in reforestation plantings made on the slopes of Mt. Tantalus above Honolulu. These trees were included in land set aside for the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station in 1900. These trees and their progeny were used in much of the early experimental work.

Maybe it was just chance that has resulted in most of the world plantings being based on the integrifolia species and not on tetraphyllas. A popular misconception is that the integrifolia species is superior in terms of tree performance and kernel quality. There is a wide difference within both species but it is quite probable that if similar development of both species had occurred major plantings of tetraphyllas could have eventuated.

Tctraphylla kernels have a grey tint in the raw state and are sweeter in flavor but has the same typical flavor and texture. Many people prefer the taste of this species.

The most important early introduction was in 1892. Captain R.A. Jordan was the First Mate of a sailing vessel, which berthed in Brisbane. He was of Irish origin and went to visit a friend south of Brisbane who had also left Ireland because of religious persecution. His friend, Francis Lahey came to Australia in 1861, and in 1870, with his wife and 11 children settled at Hotham Creek, Pimpama about 60 km south of Brisbane and in the foothills of a range just north of the Gold Coast. Along the creek were a small number of native integrifolia trees, which were left when the land was cleared.

When Captain Jordan arrived, Francis had died and his son David gave Jordan half a sugar bag full of nuts. Bert Lahey, who recently died, could clearly remember this happening. Today, there is only one large tree remaining which is healthy and bearing good quality nuts. Opposite it is the remnant of a large stump and probably the sack of nuts were collected from these two trees. These trees were of a reasonable standard and provided the basis on which the initial industry largely became established. It is possible that there would not have been much further interest if their quality were similar to earlier importations. Captain Jordan gave most of these nuts to his brother, Mr. F.W. Jordan, who germinated some and planted at least six trees in his backyard at Wyli Street, Nuuana Valley, Honolulu. Francis Lahey’s great grand daughter, Shirley, visited Hawaii in the 1960s to trace these trees but they had just been cut down when the new Pali Highway was constructed.

There were further importations of seed from Australia, probably many unrecorded. Both the Queensland and New South Wales Governments sent seed as well as Rumsey in 1908 and Petrie several times, up until 1936. Dr. Beaumont in 1954 and Dr. Storey in 1960 both selected scion wood for trials in Hawaii and California.

From 1900 to about 1915 many small individual plantings were made, mostly being as ornamental or specimen trees.

The Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station (H.A.E.S.) was established in 1900 and particularly between 1910 and 1920 conducted trials and encouraged the establishment of a Macadamia industry. Mr. Higgins, the Horticulturist, carried out some of this work and then Dr. Willis T. Pope from 1918 to 1936. By the end of 1918, in order to observe their performance, about 1000 trees had been distributed free to interested people in order to observe the tree’s performance.

Some time after 1910, a Mr. Ernest Sheldon Van Tassel came to Hawaii from the United States to recuperate from an illness. While dining with a prominent citizen, Mr. Gerrit P. Wilder, who was involved with introducing several important horticultural plants, Van Tassel was given some home processed macadamias. Van Tassel was so impressed that to show his indebtedness to Hawaii, he wished to make the nuts more readily available. He came back to Hawaii to live and obtained integrifolia seed from six trees at the residence of Mr. E.W. Jordan. He then negotiated a lease of 25 acres of land on the western side of Round Top at Mount Tantalus, a cinder cone immediately behind Honolulu. The soil was poor, rainfall low and land steep, but it was all that was available for what was seen as an eccentric venture.

The first trees were planted in 1920 still in their tins and most died. The orchard was replanted in 1922 again from seed from Jordan and while the trees survived, they did not prosper due to poor cultural standards.

It was soon obvious to Van Tassel that his orchard would not support a processing industry and so in 1922 a stock company was formed called The Hawaiian Macadamia Nut. Co. Ltd. The Bishop Estate, a philanthropic family land trust leased the company 100 acres at Keauhou on the Island of Hawaii at 1800-ft. elevation with climatic conditions very different and much more favorable than at Mt. Tantalus. When both orchards were fully planted there were 1000 trees at Tantalus and 7000 at Keauhou. In 1926 he induced the Territorial Legislature to encourage Macadamia planting by passing an act, exempting from tax until 1932, all properties used solely for the culture of the Macadamia.

The first really significant plantings occurred in 1916 but this was originally intended as a reforestation program. This planting was by the Honokaa Sugar Company on the Island of Hawaii and as the potential of the nut was realized the trees received more care and eventually became regarded as an orchard. The Honolulu Sugar Company, who became a major continuing grower and processor and continues today in other hands as Hawaiian Holiday Inc. also, had acquired the property where W.H. Purvis planted his trees. The Sugar Company between 1924-28 established more orchards. These were assisted also by the Bishop Estate and consisted of 24 acres in the remote Waipio Valley and 250 acres of marginal sugar cane land near Honokaa. With subsequent plantings in the 1940s Honokaa Sugar Company was for 30 years the largest grower in the world.

A smaller orchard was planted also in the early 1920s at Hoaeae Ranch at Waipahu on the Island of Oahu.

The coffee industry was assisted in a diversification program starting in 1918 and 1919 when the Experiment Station distributed Macadamia trees. Mr. L. Macfarlane, Manager of the Captain Cook Coffee Co., gave his full support and assistance, which resulted in trees being planted under the care of tenants of the Bishop Estate and of growers associated with the Coffee Co. Where possible, trees from adjoining properties were planted next to each other and most trees were at spacing of 20 feet. The Coffee Co.'s greenhouses were producing trees in 1919.

The trees grew many of them vigorously, and some produced good crops. By 1932, 432 acres were planted but the industry was not in a strong state. Knowledge of tree culture was limited, yields were poor and total crop produced was small. Apart from the fact that in Hawaii several commercial interests had invested in macadamias, whereas this was not done until the 1960s in Australia, the industries were in a similar state. One of the main problems was tree variability, as vegetative propagation did not appear possible. In fact the trees had the reputation of being ungraftable.

Probably the major single advance in culture then occurred and the irony of it was that it was not really recognized. In 1927 the H.A.E.S. employed two high school students for vacation work. They were William B. Storey and Ralph H. Moltzau who both contributed enormously to the development of the industry. While the two lads were principally employed in watering and weeding, they were taught the principles of plant propagation and Ralph Moltzau several times tried unsuccessfully to graft Macadamias. One day Dr. Willis T. Pope brought in a branch that had been broken by wind three weeks prior but was still attached to the tree. Ralph was asked to take scions and graft onto seedlings in pots. He left the branch for two days before hastily applying some grafts. Several weeks later, he went to throw out the seedlings and found two of the grafts had started to grow. This was the breakthrough the industry sought, but in the years ahead very few grafts were successful. The significance of the broken branch was lost and it was not until 1936 that scion wood was cincture (girdled) and the technique modified so that vegetative propagation became a reliable means of producing trees.

Apart from the problems of grafting, there was still a lack of cultural knowledge. Through people such as Dr. Harry F. Clements who encouraged industry and prompted deep research, Dr. Willis T. Pope, his successor in 1936, Dr. John H. Beaumont, and staff such as Dr. William T. Storey, Winston W. Jones and in industry, Ralph Moltzau, the cultural knowledge required to grow the trees commercially was slowly obtained.

In areas such as outdoor ground nurseries, plant propagation, root anchorage, tree surgery and training, nutrition, pollination, spacing, growth and bearing habits, considerable information was obtained and made available. At this time, the administration of H.A.E.S. was transferred to the University of Hawaii, which was probably bettered suited to assisting the Macadamia industry.

1936 marked the start of successful nursery grafting and this led to the selection of trees suitable for grafting on a commercial basis. This was a major undertaking from 1937-39 with 60,000 seedling trees being assessed. As a result of this, 62 selections were made, grafted on to seedling trees and planted in four test orchards on four of the Islands.

During the 1940s, Dr. Storey began the evaluation of these and other trees with most of the trial processing carried out at the factory of Honokaa Sugar Company. Finally in 1948, Dr. Storey awarded variety status to five selections with two more in 1952. These selections were Ikaika (HAES 333), Kohala (386), and Pahuu (425), all from Van Tassel’s orchard at Mt. Tantalus. Then Kakea (508) selected at Honolulu in 1936, Keauu (660) from Deschmanda orchard at Kauai and Keahou (246), and an open pollinated seedling from the Kona Coast.

Now that cultural knowledge had improved, the technology to crack and process the nuts had to be developed. This was achieved in the same period principally through John C. Ripperton, the chief chemist at H.A.E.S. With his colleagues, he determined the conditions required to process the nut and was able to provide the industry with basic specifications and requirements so that processing equipment could be designed and fabricated and a stable high quality product produced.

The growing of the trees was continuing but as the first orchards were coming into hearing in the early l930s there were many difficulties. Ralph H. Moltzau had become Research Manager to the Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Company and with very limited facilities and a small budget, was experimenting and applying all information that was available.

Van Tassel had been advised that the soil at Mt. Tantalus was rich and would grow anything and could not understand why the trees were so stunted and unproductive. Finally, he allowed Ralph Moltzau to purchase two bags of a complete fertilizer and as Van Tassel was an invalid by then and could not readily inspect his orchards, the fertilizer was applied to the trees around his home. Within a year, these trees grew and even produced a few nuts.

By the mid 1930s his orchards were starting to bear reasonably well and so processing facilities had to he provided. Small scale processing had commenced in the Island about 1930 and some retail packs were offered from that time, but it was not of a commercial scale. Frank Anderson was added to Van Tassel’s staff and in conjunction with Mr. Ripperton he devised and built the processing equipment and set up an automatic packing line to produce roasted kernels in vacuum-sealed jars. While the plant required modifications and was improved over the years, the basic approach is the same as thirty years later and the quality of the finished goods was excellent.

Van Tassel was living at home on the Mount Tantalus orchard and his home was named "Nutridge". His health was failing and the task of expanding his company was too great. In the late 1930s, the Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Company was sold to the Dennison family who operated it until 1954. The company then ceased to operate and it was sold in parts.

At Honokaa Sugar Company, similar progress was made. By the late 1930s they started to plan their own processing. The driving force at Honokaa Sugar over all these years was Walter P. Naquin who was Manager from 1916. Mr. Naquin devoted a lot of time and energy to Macadamias and appointed an engineer, Mr. Otto Hermann who designed and built a factory, which commenced operations in 1940 and was relocated in 1958. By 1944 salted, roasted nuts were packed in glass, cans and waxed containers; confectionery grade kernels were available and chocolate coated and candy Macadamia were being produced and sold. Even the shells were being used in sand blasting at Pearl Harbor shipyards.

By 1938 there were 1086 acres planted and despite many war time problems, this had increased to 1200 acres by 1948.

Castle and Cooke Limited purchased 1000 acres at Keauu near Hilo in 1948 and an adjoining 2000 acres in 1951. 1954 had planted over 900 acres and processing was being planned. This operation which became the largest in the world was acquired by the Brewer group and operated under "Royal Hawaiian" and then "Mauna Loa" brands.

There were then 15 commercial orchards comprising 2400 acres and the total crop was over 500 tons. The industry had "arrived".

END OF ONE ERA

Many trees had been planted and nuts are being produced. Cultural knowledge for such a "new" crop was sound and would expand in many directions to start to realize the bearing potential of the tree. Major plantings were under way in Hawaii and commencing in South Africa, Australia, Central American and other countries.

The image of the nut was high and demand far outstripped supply. Consumers of the nut became enthusiasts. Macadamias were seen to have a big future.

A study of this type is never complete. This study had to rely on vague and conflicting records and people’s memory. If it serves to motivate others to add to this story it will be worthwhile. It is an historical outline of pioneers, workers, idealists and enthusiasts.

Dr. Storey in an address "The Work of Many People" delivered in California in 1955, summarizes so much when he said "This rise of the Macadamia from comparative obscurity to an increasingly prominent place in the agriculture of Hawaii did not just happen. It happened because all along the way people were making it happen...it will represent the work of many people''.

The finest nut in the world has been known for less than 150 years. It is still very young in the world of horticulture. Today we are still writing its history and one-day we too will be its pioneers.

The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Messrs. S. Angus, F. Cottam, N. Greber, C. Heselwood, D. Seccombe, W.B. Storey and T. Trochoulias for their constructive comments and to Mr. A.G. Lowndes both for comments and contributing information on the early involvement of CSR Ltd.

I also wish to express my appreciation to the many people whom with communication, advice and support provided much of the personal history and anecdotes in the story.
 
 

Beaumont J. H. 1958. The Macadamia in Australia and Hawaii. Calif. Macadamia Soc. Yrbk. 4:25-29.

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