In the late 1800s, the South Australian government was trying to find agricultural products that could be grown in the more arid regions and could be used to open up and populate the centre.
One of the products that was considered viable was dates and a number of date plantations were established. The largest of these was at Lake Harry , just north of Marree on the Birdsville Track. The planation showed great promise and by 1897, there were 2,600 palms on Lake Harry.
However, the whole plan came unstuck because of bees, crows and cockatoos.
The native bees were not interested in the date flowers and hence did not pollinated them. Pollination had to be done manually - very laborious and time consuming.
While the bees may not have been interested, the crows and the cockatoos in particular were very interested in the fruit and thousands of them would descend upon the palms and destroy the fruit as fast as it set.
By 1914, it was clear to all that dates were not the answer and Lake Harry was abandoned. Except for the ruins, there is no evidence at all now that the plantation ever existed.
See the background to this series of postings at http://365project.org/terryliv/365/2015-08-12
Great shot and as always very interesting information. I wonder where all the crows and cockatoos came from when the area seem desolate from wildlife and there appears to be no food for them for miles around.
September 24th, 2015
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