Remnants of former acclimatisation society gardens at Lawnton

Stephen Lawn Park on Bray Road at Lawnton is named in honour of the suburb’s founder. The land was once the site of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society gardens, established here in 1915. Explore the park and find a grove of six mature pecan nut trees on the river flats, and a further nine trees in backyards overlooking the park. The society was formed in 1862 and focussed on contributing to the Queensland agriculture industry. Initially based at Bowen Park, the society was forced to leave there in 1914 following expansion by the Royal National Association. It relocated to a Lawnton and continued its work here for 30 years, planting and researching cotton, castor oil plants, avocados, pecan nuts, citrus fruits, macadamia nuts, custard apples, mangoes, pineapples, soy beans and fodder cane. The society contributed to making avocados, pecan nuts and grapefruit commercially viable crops in Queensland. At the northern end of the park, a grove of pecan nut trees is the only known existing group of pre-World War II Acclimatisation Society plantings relating to commercial crops in Queensland. The society relocated to Redcliffe between 1941 and 1942 and the land was used for dairying before being subdivided in 1959.