72 
his garden on Tinana Greek. Hovenia dulcis, the Chinese 
raisin, was one of them, and it is said that the first mango 
in Australia was probably raised there. J. IT- Bailey 
records that most of the fruits now grown in Mary- 
borough were, according to an old resident (G. W. Bart), 
growing in Bidwili's garden. In 1853 he died, aged 38, 
at his home at Tinana, after suffering the hardship of 
being lost for eight days. After his death, many of his 
introductions were removed to the Sydney Botanic 
Gardens. J. V. Thompson had raised cotton at More t On 
Bay in the forties, though he did not make it a profitable 
crop. These were the days of private horticultural enter- 
prise and dates of introduction are vague. We know, how- 
ever, that there were well established orchards at 
Toowoomba and on the Darling Downs in the sixties, and 
that very much earlier, Patrick Leslie was growing a wide 
range of European fruit trees on the Brisbane side of 
Breakfast Greek. 
It was shortly after the establishment of the Brisbane 
Botanic Gardens that plant introduction became sys- 
tematized. The Gardens played a notable part. The 
Queensland Acclimatization Society, founded- in 1862, at 
first co-operated closely with them and for a few years 
their importations were propagated and distributed from 
that centre, hut after a couple of years the Society’s 
activities were transferred to Bowen Park, then of much 
greater extent than at present. A list of introductions 
is given by •). F. Bailey (Proc. Boy. Hoc. Qld., XXII., 
77-102, 1910). The original plan was for the Society to 
introduce plants thought desirable (sometimes mistakenly, 
as in the case of Cryptosteyia grandiflora, the Rubber 
Vine, which became a weed in the north) and to distribute 
them to its subscribing members. This resulted in a wide 
spread of fruit trees, ornamentals and fodder plants. 
Many of them failed in inexpert hands, and large numbers 
of desirable species simply disappeared and had to he 
re-introduced later. Commercial exploitation by some 
members who resold their plants at a profit ultimately 
undermined Hie Society’s activities and membership was 
finally restricted. 
The obvious success of a well-organised Botanic 
Garden in Brisbane from which mangoes, pineapples, 
papaws, sugarcane, guavas, grape vines, pecans, walnuts 
and a host of other plants had been distributed led to 
the establishment of government, botanic gardens on 
similar lines at Rockhampton and Bowen to cater for 
different climatic requirements. Other centres had their 
