Queensland State Archives posted a photo:
Romance of Food: Bananas
We have no figures of the number of bananas the average Australian eats in a year, but before they were rationed in England every person in Britain consumed an average of ninety bananas per annum.
Though it is the most popular of tropical fruits, the banana has risen to fame only in comparatively recent times. Until a generation ago bananas were looked upon as a rare tropical luxury in Europe. They were curiosities even seventy or so years ago, and few people had seen a banana much less eaten one.
It was not until the last decade of the 19th century that the art of successfully importing bananas began to be mastered, and cultivation of the fruit on a commercial scale began in the West Indies.
The original home of the banana is the moist tropical regions of southern Asia. Even in 327 B.C. the