Distribution
Native to Queensland, Australia, a larger population in south east Queensland (fragmented areas: Blackall Range, Bunya Mountains, upper Brisbane River reaches, upper Mary River valley;) and two small isolated outlier populations in northern Queensland at Cannabullen Falls and Mt. Lewis.
A. bidwillii has a limited distribution within Australia in part because of the drying out of Australia with loss of rainforest and poor seed dispersal. The remnant sites at the Bunya Mountains and Mount Lewis in Queensland have genetic diversity. The cones are large, soft-shelled and nutritious and fall intact to the ground beneath the tree before dehiscing. The possibility that extinct large animals were dispersers for the Bunya – perhaps dinosaurs and, later, large mammals – is reasonable given the seeds' size and energy content, but difficult to confirm given the incompleteness of the fossil record for coprolites.
At the time of white settlement, A. bidwillii occurred in great abundance in southern Queensland, to the extent that a Bunya Bunya Reserve was declared in 1840 to protect its habitat. The tree once grew as large groves or sprinkled regularly as an emergent species throughout other forest types on the Upper Stanley and Brisbane Rivers, Sunshine Coast hinterland (especially the Blackall Range near Montville and Maleny), and also towards and on the Bunya Mountains. Today, the species is usually encountered as very small groves or single trees in its former range, except on and near the Bunya Mountains, where it is still fairly prolific.
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