January, 1939 
Tlie Queensland Naturalist 
7 
the Mary River, looking for suitable grazing country. 
On the river bank was found another species of pine 
(probably a species of Callitris or Cypress pine), of which 
Petrie took a sample.. It was in this district that the 
blacks informed Bracefell of the presence of another 
white man in the neighbourhood, and Bracefell found him 
in a large blacks camp at Mt. Boppol; after much per- 
suasion and many promises he also was induced to join 
the party, and he turned out to be Davis (“Derliamboi”). 
The gathering with which Davis was at the time of his 
discovery was a large one, the members of which were on 
the w’ay to avenge the wholesale poisoning of a number of 
blacks by white settlers. The party returned after this 
without having seen the famous Bunya tree, although suit- 
able grazing country was found. 
At about this time a proclamation was issued pro- 
hibiting any white man from cutting down a Bunya tree 
or encroaching on Bunya territory for settlement pur- 
poses. Now that the greater part of the Bunya forests 
have been harvested for timber it would be of interest to 
know whether this proclamation was ever specifically 
rescinded. 
Shortly after the return of this expedition in 1842, 
Russell, still in search of sheep country, came across a 
gentleman by the name of Bidwell at Kilcov Station, high 
up on the Brisbane River. Bidwell was a botanist 
attached to the Botanical Society of London. On one of 
his collecting excursions he had got as far as Kilcoy, 
intent on finding Bunya trees, and, if possible, obtaining 
young living specimens. He accompanied Russell north- 
wards, and within a few miles Russell was able to show 
him a fine specimen of the tree in question, with ten seed- 
lings growing beneath it. Of these seedlings Bidwell dug 
out three, which he packed in a wardian case and for- 
warded to London by the first ship. He also made a 
collection of specimens from the trees and sketches of the 
species. While in London in 1856, Russell states that he 
saw one of the seedlings growing vigorously at Kew 
Gardens in London, and another at Chatsworth. He 
could not trace the third specimen. It would be interest- 
ing to learn the ultimate fate of the two trees, which were 
then living and if they still survive. 
The tree was thus reported officially, and was assigned 
to the genus Araucaria, not Finns , to which, although a 
conifer, it is not closely related, and given the specific 
name of Bidwellii by Hooker, after the collector Bidwell. 
This specific name has, in the course of time, and no doubt 
