Wondaree Macadamias

Produced on a family owned and run farm situated on the beautiful Atherton Tablelands, Far North Queensland. We are so excited to introduce you to Greg and Wendy O’Neil, the couple behind this amazing product. The packaging first drew me to Wondaree Macadamias, who could blame me, then we started taste testing and wow, what a product! Please meet Greg and Wendy…

Please tell us a little about yourself?

I grew up on a sheep and cattle station in western Qld. Became an electrician after leaving school and had my own contracting business. Bought a farm on the Atherton Tableland as an investment. Wendy was from Brisbane, sent to Julia Creek as a teacher where we met and taught on the Tablelands and worked in the business and is now head of sales at Wondaree.

Where did the idea for your business come from and how has it evolved?

Growing macadamias resulted from a chance encounter with a bloke in a bar!! I hadn’t grown a pot plant, but we decided to give it a go and planted the first trees in 1984. In 1990 the industry crashed ( and we were just getting our first crops) which led us to start value adding our own nuts. We have grown from there improving what we do and maintaining a small family operation.

Can you tell us about the challenges you have faced within your business and what has helped you to overcome them?

We live in cyclone country and have had numerous cyclones effect the orchard and production. The worst by far being cyclone “Larry” in 2012 where we lost 5500 trees (over 70% of the orchard). We nearly left but decided to replant a small area which is in production today. We just love where we live and a bit of Aussie resilience saw us get back on our feet.

Where do you see your business going in the future?

Macadamia nuts are in high demand worldwide at present so from a growers view the immediate future looks good. Our value add business has taken a big hit from Covid as we were very reliant on the tourist sector in north Qld.

Any advice for small business owners in rural and regional Australia?

Food provenance has become very important to the consumer. The Web has allowed remote businesses to be part of the trading world.

 To shop the full Wondaree range please go to www.wondaree.com.au or shop via our Wattle I Gift collection of gift hampers, filled with products from makers, creators and growers in outback Australia.