The coconut odyssey - the bounteous possibilities of the ... - ACIAR

Diversity among palms
introduced into Australia
As we have seen, Australia
lacked significant numbers of
coconut palms until the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, when
small investments were made in
plantations on the coast north
of the Johnstone River (which
flows through Innisfail at latitude
17 degrees south), and at the tip of
Cape York (12 degrees south), using
‘copra’ palms of the type also being
planted widely at the time in New
Guinea and the South Pacific islands
(copra is the kernel of the nut, dried
to about 6% moisture content).
Seed for planting these areas would
probably have come from the Torres
Strait Islands and the Papuan coast
and islands, where many trading
boats and trading posts were active
in that era.
Remnants of the Queensland
plantations remained until at least
the 1980s, and an occasional very
ancient palm (probably around
100 years old) can still be seen,
even though copra-making did not
continue in Australia beyond the
depression of the 1930s. �e old
plantations continued to produce
fruit that provided food for domestic
and wild pigs. In some areas, the
native white-tailed rat population
proliferated in response to the
constant supply of unused fallen
coconuts.
A few copra-type Tall palms were
also planted in the late 19th century
around Darwin, and on coastal
mission stations in the Northern
Territory and on the north-west
coast of Western Australia—for
example, at the Catholic mission at
Kalumburu, and around Broome
(latitude 18 degrees south). Many
seednuts, probably from Timor, were
imported to Darwin in the 1860s
in a vessel named the Gulnare, and
there are records of imports from
�ailand and from the Federated
Malay States (now West Malaysia).
In North Queensland during the
1970s, interest grew in the use of
yellow and orange small-fruited
Dwarf palms as ornamentals in real
estate developments and resorts,
and on city streets. �is is perhaps
the first example in Australia of
a purely ornamental use of the
coconut, although the palm had
long been appreciated in holiday
resorts for the way it helps to create
a relaxing, tropical ambience. In the
late 1990s, several distinct Dwarf
varieties were introduced from
Solomon Islands by the Townsville
40
City Council, for ornamental use in
parks. Some may be found in the
magnificent Townsville Palmetum
in the suburb of Aitkenvale, along
with a great range of other palm
species. Interest in Dwarf varieties
continues to increase, as managers of
holiday resorts, public parks and city
streetscapes become concerned about
liability for injury from any source,
including falling coconut fruit.
Figure 2-5. Ancient palms at Wonga
Beach north of Cairns, Australia
(latitude 16 degrees 30 min S)
planted in the early 20 th century.