It's not just the animals in Australia that want to kill you ...

Bunya Pine Cone - Australia

The Bunya pine (Aracauria bidwillii) is a unique and majestic Australian tree. Commonly called Bunya or the Bunya Bunya.
Bunya Pine trees have a long lifespan, with some specimens in Australia believed to be up to five hundred years old.
While many people love Bunya pines, this love affair comes with a health warning. They are best regarded with both distance and respect!
The trees are big and typically range from 20m (65 ft.) to 50m (165 ft.) in height. Their leaves have strings of very rigid and sharply pointed leaves. If you come into physical contact with its leaves or branches, you must wear protective clothes and carefully handle them to avoid pain or even cuts. As a child, the swinging branch of a Bunya made a formidable garden weapon.
But that is nothing compared to this tree’s ability to hit you on the head, possibly with serious consequences. When in season (generally December to March) they can produce dozens of massive cones weighing up to 10 kilograms (22 lbs.). These can drop from up to 50m without warning.
The cultural connection of the Bunya pine to Aboriginal Australians is very powerful. The Bunya Mountains in southeast Queensland used to host massive gatherings of Aboriginal groups.
People came to visit the Bunya pines and feasted on the nuts in their abundant cones. Some travelled from hundreds of kilometres away, and traditional hostilities were dropped to allow access. The seed in the Bunya cone is a delicious and nutritious food, a famous and celebrated example of Australian bush tucker.
Sadly, the last of the Aboriginal Bunya festivals was held in about 1900, as European loggers came to the area for its many timber resources.
But even those European timber pioneers realized the significance of the Bunya Mountains area. The Bunya Mountains National Park was declared in 1908, creating Queensland’s second national park.
Bunyas also produce highly valued timber, which is used for musical instruments. It is particularly valued as “tonewood” for producing stringed instruments’ sound boards. Saw logs for Bunyas come from plantations only, as they are protected in their national park wild habitat.