Changes in island biota - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 205

The total number of plantations increased, and their geographical distribution
expanded, since 1892.
In addition to offering a resource for shipwrecked crews, the industry was
intended to serve other purposes, both social and economic. MacLean (1898,
p1039) stated:
With regards to the manner in which the conditions of the coast Aborigines
[ sic ] in this district between Bowen and Mackay could be ameliorated, and
at the same time ensure the safety and cultivation of the cocoanut [ sic ]
plantations, it is suggested that a station on Carlisle or adjacent land be
formed under the care of a married couple. A small steam launch, which
would be worked as cheaply as a sailing vessel, to be purchased, and the
men employed in tending the present plantations, and as opportunity
offered extending their area. As a good many of the palms should fruit next
year, the females could be employed in the preparation of copra and fibre.
By 1898, however, the northern plantations had been planted, but not
cultivated, so had not yet contributed to the revenue of the colony (Hughes,
1898, p758). By 1900, limited economic benefits had been reaped from the
coconut palm plantations, although J. Hughes (1900, p249), the Registrar-
General, acknowledged that the plantations were still at that stage very young.
During the next decade, despite the large number of palms planted on
Great Barrier Reef islands, the export of coconuts and copra took place on a
comparatively small scale in northern Queensland. Figure 13.2 shows the size of
the coconut exports from Queensland, from 1905 to 1911, reported in the SSQ ;
the major destinations for the produce were Western Australia, Victoria, South
Australia and the Arru Islands. From 1902-1916, copra was also exported
from Queensland; the copra trade was greatest in 1906, when 2,904 cwt were
exported from Queensland to Victoria. Like the trade in coconuts, however, the
Queensland copra export quantities were small in comparison with the produce
of some Pacific island states, of which 6,572 cwt were shipped via Queensland
in 1907 . 1 T he comparatively low export quantities suggest that the majority of
the coconuts that were grown remained in Queensland, though official reports
of the Queensland government do not indicate the destination of the produce.
Yet although the Queensland coconut industry was economically insignificant,
in comparison with other industries, the plantations represented a significant
modification of the landscapes of those islands of the Great Barrier Reef where
they were established. Figure 13.3 illustrates the coconut palm plantation at
Palm Island: it suggests the scale of the vegetation clearance and modification
that was involved in creating a plantation. At many islands, the palms became
firmly established as part of the vegetation; numerous reports, written several
decades after the palms were planted, describe the survival - and even, at
Rabbit Island, the expansion - of the plantations (Clune, 1945, p245) . 2