Discovery of macadamia nut in Australia

The macadamia nut has originated in Australia, more precisely in the rain forests of the south­eastern Queensland and north­eastern New South Wales.

Aboriginal groups showed the tree and nuts to the explorers and botanists. In early contact with European settlers Macadamias were a major item of trade in exchange for tobacco, tommy axes and rum.

Alan Cunningham may have been the first explorer/botanist to record Macadamias near current day Beenleigh.

Baron Sir Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller (1825-1896) , and Walter Hill (1820-1904), first director of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, collected the yet undescribed plant in 1857 along the Pine River in the Moreton Bay area in Queensland, Australia.

Walter Hill erroneously believed the hard shell had to be removed to allow them to germinate and be planted. He gave the job to a young assistant and told him not to taste them as they were very bitter and probably poisonous.

Ferdinand von Mueller, a German-Australian physician and botanist decided to name the genus after a colleague. His name was Dr. John Macadam. Von Mueller was a noted chemist and physician who encouraged macadamia nut cultivation.

Mueller, who received his doctorate from the University of Kiel, Germany, came to Australia in 1847 upon being advised to go to a warmer climate.

Macadamia was introduced to Hawaii by W. H. Purvis in 1881, by the Jordan brothers in 1892, and by the Territorial Board of Agriculture between 1891 and 1895.

Macadamia nuts trees were imported to Hawaii for cultivation in the 1880s where it was first used for reforestation and as an ornamental plant and later in 1930; its commercial potential for dessert nut was developed by university of Hawaii. Nowadays, most macadamia plantations thrive in Hawaii.

Ernest Van Tassel, of the Hawai’i Macadamia Nut Company, began commercial planting of the nuts in 1921. After facing many adversities in growing healthy trees, Van Tassel was finally able to begin processing the nuts in 1934.
Discovery of macadamia nut in Australia

Scullin, James Henry

Scullin, James Henry (1876-1953) the Australian statesman, he was a goldminer, shopkeeper and organizer for the Australian Worker’s Union before becoming a labor Member of the House of Representatives.

Born near Ballarat, the son of a railway worker, Scullin left school to work in a grocery store and attended night classes, where he won prizes as a debater and public speaker/ Scullin joined the labor Party in 1903 and was elected to the House of Representatives as the member for Corangamite in 1910.

Scullin became accustomed to addressing large audiences, in one instances speaking to a crowd of about 3,000. His oratorical style was compared favorably to Alfred Deakin.

He lost his seat in 1913 but was elected as the member for the Yarra in 1921, becoming leader of the party 1928.

He was elected prime minister in 1929 at the height of the Depression. The Great Depression had a disastrous effect on the Australian economy. Declining demand and falling world process dramatically reduced the earnings of staple experts.

Beset by difficulties of the Depression, ministerial inexperience, and an opposition-controlled senate, he lost the 1931 election but retained the labor leadership until 1935, when he resigned because of illness.

An effective parliamentary speaker who was greatly respected for his integrity and sincerity, Scullin was a close advisor to his successor, Curtis, during World War 2.

Scullin had a mild stroke in 1947 and retired at the 1949 election. He died on 28 January 1953.

He is an example of the generation of working class men for whom oratory and corrects speech was an important part of life.
Scullin, James Henry