Australian Bunya-Bunya
Scientific Name: Araucaria bidwillii Hook.
Author: William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865)
Common Name: Bunya Pine, Bunya-Bunya, Bunya Nut, Aussie Chestnut
Plant Family: ARAUCARIACEAE
The grassy slope below the large Rock Garden pond is the Gondwanan Woodland and home to two specimens of the Bunya Pine, Araucaria bidwillii. They were planted in 1988 from seed collected in the State Forest at Brooloo, Wide Bay, Queensland where the average annual rainfall is 1200 millimetres. Mount Tomah's average is 1500mm. Two other specimens, all from the same accession, stand nearby at the foot of the Southern Hemisphere Woodland.
The natural distribution of the Bunya Pine is two separate montane rainforest areas within Queensland. Near Kingaroy, south eastern Queensland, the Bunya Mountains are its stronghold and it occurs elsewhere in that vicinity. Greatly separated is the location in the Mount Molloy area, far northern Queensland.
Mature trees produce, approximately every three years, female cones weighing up to 8 kg that fall between January and March. Counts of 30 to 100 seeds have been reported for a single cone. Aboriginal tribes travelled long distances to collect and eat the tasty, highly nutritious seeds; raw, roasted or pounded to make flour and it is said that all hostilities ceased during the harvest. Currently there are recipes galore for tasty treats incorporating the nuts.
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