Macadamia Nuts

For thousands of years before European settlement the aborigines of eastern Australia feasted on the native nuts which grew in the rain-forests of the wet slopes of the Great Dividing Range. One of these nuts was called gyndl or jindilli, which was later corrupted to kindal kindal by early Europeans, while in the southern range of the tree it was known as boombera. We now know it as the macadamia.
The high oil content of these nuts was a coveted addition to the indigenous diet. However, they were difficult to harvest in great quantities so probably were not a major staple food. The fallen nuts were collected in dilly bags and taken to feasting grounds. Some coastal, aboriginal middens contain large quantities of bush nut shells along with sea shells, often 15 - 20kms from the nearest trees.
The nuts were eaten raw or roasted in hot coals. Many processing stones have been found in eastern rain-forests, consisting of a large stone with a delicate incision for holding the nuts and sometimes a smaller, flat stone sits on top which is then struck by a larger ‘hammer’ stone.
The colonization of Australia by the British began in 1788 but it wasn't until 1875 that the recorded history of the macadamia began. Ferdinand Von Muller, Royal Botanist at Melbourne and Walter Hill, Director of the Botany Garden at Brisbane, were botanizing in the forest along the Pine River in the Moreton Bay district of Queensland. They discovered a species of tree in the family Proteaceae previously unknown to European and American Botanists. This species of tree, so in 1858 Muller established a new genus, Macadamia, naming it in honor of John Macadam, MD, Secretary of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria.
Today most macadamia nuts are grown in Hawaii. Due to Hawaii's temperature and environment macadamia trees thrive in Hawaii. Most people today believe that Hawaii has always had macadamia trees and nuts but the macadamia's roots trace back to the beautiful country of Australia.