FAQ

Wild Macadamia Champions are the community of people who support the conservation of Australia’s four wild macadamia species. Becoming a Champion is free. You will receive two newsletters per year keeping you up to date with conservation research, field discoveries, and ways to get involved. 

Donations to Wild Macadamia Conservation fund our on-ground conservation work to retain, restore and reconnect. Donations protect remaining habitat, restore degraded habitat and help provide locally endemic macadamias to plant in suitable habitat and as pollination stepping stones between isolated populations. 

The Wild Macadamia App is a free tool that lets you find out whether wild macadamias grow in your area, which of the four species are local to you, and which habitat zone you are in. It shows the distribution of all four wild macadamia species across their range. The App includes a layer showing the extent of the 2019/20 wildfires and their impact on macadamia habitat and a layer showing commercial macadamia orchards to help assess their impact on pollination of neighbouring wild trees. The App is available for free download on iOS and Android.  

If you own land in south east Queensland or northern New South Wales, you may have wild macadamias growing on your property. The Wild Macadamia App can help you identify your local species and find out whether macadamia habitat has been recorded nearby. If you think you have wild macadamias, contact us and we can help you identify them and discuss how to protect them. Controlling weeds and feral animals around macadamia trees makes a practical difference to their survival.

Yes, planting wild macadamias in appropriate habitat is a valuable contribution to conservation. If you are outside macadamia habitat (use the Wild Macadamia App to check), think about why you want a macadamia tree – some species will give you edible nuts, and all species can be a talking point for wild macadamia conservation. 

If you are on or near macadamia habitat, it is important to use planting stock that comes from the species and provenance local to your area – The Wild Macadamia App can tell you what is native to your area. Ask at your local native plant nursery, Landcare group, or council environmental team for guidance on locally endemic macadamia planting stock.  

Macadamias evolve by cross-pollinating with neighbouring trees, so they prefer pollen from a different tree to fertilise their flowers. They can even accept pollen from a different macadamia species. Macadamia integrifolia and some M. tetraphylla are widely planted in back-yards and orchards, from across their range and increasingly from commercial cultivars, so that many wild trees are exposed to cross-pollination by pollen parents that are not locally endemic. This means that each new generation of seeds may be a mix of local and non-local stock which makes it difficult to guarantee locally endemic trees from seed.

To maintain the diversity of wild macadamias, we need to plant a variety of trees that have come from local wild stock. Sourcing this wild stock is a challenge, but Wild Macadamia Conservation is working with partners to build the knowledge and capacity to do it!

One way is to grow trees from cuttings taken from locally endemic trees, but this is not as easy to do with macadamias as with some other plants. Wild Macadamia Conservation works with specialist nurseries to source and grow wild macadamia. The potted cuttings are provided to local councils and bushcare groups to support the recovery of wild macadamias.

Ask your local native plant nursery in Queensland and northern New South Wales if they can source locally endemic macadamias. Macadamias grown from seed collected locally to your area (not from backyard or orchard trees) is a reasonable compromise. Your local Landcare group or council environmental team can work with Wild Macadamia Conservation to provide cutting-grown trees to approved habitat restoration projects.

Wild Macadamia Conservation is an independent environmental charity dedicated to supporting and conserving Australian wild macadamia trees and the rainforest habitat they depend on. We evolved from the Macadamia Conservation Trust, which started off as an informal group of researchers, conservationists and concerned people in the macadamia nut industry. The macadamia nut industry is represented by a separate organisation – the Australian Macadamia Society and we work collaboratively with the industry where our goals align, particularly around the conservation of macadamia genetic diversity.  

No, they come from Australia! All macadamias come from the coastal ranges and foothills of southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales. Macadamia nuts were taken from wild trees in Australia and used to establish an industry in Hawaii. 

Australia pioneered growing of Macadamias in the late 19th century but native pests and disease and a lack of de-husking and cracking technologies kept it as a cottage industry. Hawaii had ideal growing conditions for Macadamias; few of the native pests and disease problems in present in Australia; entrepreneurs to develop processing machines; and an active horticultural research body. Find out more in Ian McConachie’s history of the industry.

Macadamia orchards in Australia currently grow many cultivars that were developed in Hawaii.  Genetic testing shows that these cultivars were developed from nuts taken from just a handful of wild trees in Australia. Many of the wild trees have been cleared for agriculture and urban expansion, so although there are many macadamia trees around, only a fraction of the genetic diversity of the four species remains.  This species diversity and the biodiversity of the habitat that sustains it is what Wild Macadamia Conservation is working to protect. 

The macadamias grown for their nuts in backyards and orchards only represent a tiny proportion of Macadamia genetic diversity. Much more of the diversity that evolved over millions of years survives in the remaining wild trees. This diversity is the natural and cultural heritage of Australia’s First Nations and it is a tragedy that so much has already been destroyed. For macadamias to remain part of Australia’s heritage, we all need to take responsibility to look after the remaining diversity.  In addition to preserving Australia’s heritage, the wild trees are now a gene bank for a global nut industry; a resource that the rest of the world relies on for developing improved orchard trees and resistance to pests and disease, just as Australia relies on other countries to safeguard the gene bank for most of the crops we grow and consume. 

Wild macadamias grow in highly diverse sub-tropical rainforest ecosystems. Saving wild Macadamias requires conservation of these magnificent forest habitats, home to many other rare and threatened species.  

According to the Australian Government, rainforests make up less than 3% of Australia’s native forests, but provide habitat for 60% of Australia’s plant species, 60% of butterfly species, 40% of bird species and 35% of mammal species.

Wild macadamias and the forest that sustains them are Australia’s natural heritage to protect for future generations. 

Knowledge is power. By learning more about the situation facing wild macadamias, you can make a real difference. Spread the message of where macadamia grow and encourage efforts to protect their habitat – plant endemic macadamia in suitable habitat and provide stepping stone trees between isolated habitat patches. Invite your friends to become a Wild Macadamia Champion.