Bananas have been cultivated in Australia since the mid 1800's but who were the people that brought them,
where did they come from and what was their story?

The earliest recorded appearance of bananas in Australia was in the early to mid 1800s when Chinese migrants brought  plants with them from their home provinces to begin life in Australia in Carnarvon, Western Australia .

In 1828, two plants growing on the island of Mauritius were taken to Lord Cavendish who grew them in what are now Kew Gardens in England. Some plants from his garden were given to missionaries who were travelling to the South Sea Islands in about 1840.

The bananas flourished in the tropical environment and a missionary named Williams took a few plants with him to Fiji. When sugarcane growers from Queensland went looking for cane cutters in the Pacific Islands they also brought banana plants back with them.  These plants were used more as ornamentals and a special treat when fruit ripened than for commercial considerations. This was around the 1870s.

In Sydney, bananas were brought in bunches by ship from Fiji to supply the market there.  Bananas taken to the Coffs Harbour region by Herman Reich in 1891 saw an industry begin to develop, later expanding to Yarrahappini and Woolgoolga and ultimately to the Tweed, Richmond and Brunswick areas of New South Wales.

While fruit was generally consumed locally, some adventurers began to send by ship to major cities.