Macadamia nuts are the only major nuts or other food crop which is native to Australia.In the migration of Australia by British started in 1788. In 1875 the director of botany gardener was researching in the forest when he came across an unknown species of tree. This tree was unknown to Americans and Europeans. This garden was along the Pine River in Moreton. But obviously the British were not the resident of Australia. When they arrived in Australia their food usually contained fish, eggs, turtles, tree bark, insects, wombat, grubs, shellfish, koala, kangaroo, grass seeds and other animals and birds.
But in winter they used to come from far areas and feast with the seeds of that area. It is reported that the two types of seeds found there were in abundance and called Kindal Kindal at that time. These trees were macadamia nut trees. The name macadamia was given by Baron Sir Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller, The one who discovered them at the first place.
Macadamia genus has around ten species with different size and taste. But only two types of these species produces edible nuts. They are called Tetraphylla and Integrifolia. The first cultivation macadamia trees were in 1890 on Frederickson Estate. They planted 250 trees and some of them are still there producing healthy fruit. Hawaii is called the capital of these nuts as they produce 90% of the world’s total crop of macadamia nuts.
And the most amazing thing which comes while talking about the connection of Hawaii and macadamia is that these trees are not even native to Hawaii. In 1882 these trees were first planted in Hawaii near a place called kapuleana on a large island of Hawaii.
Actually a sugar plantation manager of Hawaii, name William H. Purvis was highly impressed by the beauty of these trees. He brought the seeds of these trees back to Hawaii and planted them at big island, kapulena. And after that these trees were grown as ornamental purpose but not for their fruit.