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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

The Blackall Ranges.
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Fruit Growing on the Top.
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Mr. Charles Ross, F.R.H.S. (instructor in fruit culture), has returned from a visit to the top of the Blackall Ranges. He travelled from Yandina to the foot of the ranges in a springcart, and thence “footed it” to the top. The locality visited bears the name of Coolloollabin.
Mr. Ross visited the district at the invitation of the local progress association. He states that several settlers both at the foot of the mountains and on top are growing bananas extensively, and are also giving some attention to cultivation of oranges. There is, says Mr. Ross, great variation of soil in the district, ranging from a good friable shaley loam to a strong volcanic loam. The tall varieties of bananas are doing remarkably well. The Cavendish bananas are a great success, and the growers say they pay best in the long

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

On 6 September 1915, former Railway clerk Ronald Alexander Sowden enlisted with the AIF, aged 18 years and 1 month. He disembarked for Alexandria on 5 March 1916, and went into battle in France on 29 July. He was wounded in August 1916, and again in June 1917, but both times he recovered and was discharged for duty.

Then, on 26 November 1917, this letter is sent requesting confirmation of Sowden’s death. His service dossier confirms he was killed in action on 3 November 1917, in Belgium. Ronald Alexander Sowden’s name was published in the Roll of Honour on 19 December 1917.

Description source: Discovering Anzacs; The Northern Miner, 19 December 1917

Image source: Queensland State Archives Item ID 862636

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Cherries are a fleshy stone fruit from plants of the genus Prunus. The main species cultivated for edible frout are sweet or “wild” cherries (Prunus avium), which the Australian industry is largely based on, and sour cherries (Prunus cerasus). Sweet cherries are a naturally vigorous deciduous tree that becomes large and upright if unprune, reaching heights up to 11 metres. The bark is a decorative silver-grey, and the leaves are a large slender oval shape with a serrated edge. The tree has white blossoms in spring, with buds containing one to five flowers. The fruit is usually heart-shaped to round, about two centimetres in diameter, and ranges in colour from yellow to red and nearly black (depending on the variety).

Cherry trees are largely grown for their fruit, which in Australia is produced over the period from late October to mid-February. The fruit is eaten fresh

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Queensland Bottle Tree

Brachychiton rupestris is a member of the Sterculiaceae family and is commonly referred to as the Queensland Bottle Tree, Queensland-Flaschenbaum, or the Narrowleaf Bottle Tree or Kurrajong. The comman name “bottle tree” refers to the characteristic trunk of the tree, which can reach a 2 m diameter. The height of the tree is less impressive, with a maximum height of 18-20 m, smaller in cultivation; the canopy spans 5-12 m in diameter. The tree will drop its leaves before the flowering period, which is between the months of October and December. The characteristic bottle shape should develop in approximately five to eight years. The canopy will also thin out during a drought.

The species is endemic to a limited region of Australia, namely Central Queensland through to northern New South Wales. It grows in a soil that consists of a medium to heavy clay,

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

The coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the family Arecaceae (palm family) and the only species of the genus Cocus. The term coconut can refer to the whole coconut palm or the seed, or the fruit, which, botanically, is a drupe, not a nut. The spelling cocoanut is an archaic form of the word. The term is derived from the 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish word coco meaning “head” or “skull”, from the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features.

Coconuts are known for their great versatility, as evidenced by many traditional uses, ranging from food to cosmetics. They form a regular part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are distinct from other fruits for their large quantity of water (also called “juice”) and when immature, they are known as tender-nuts or jelly-nuts and may be

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