Jacaranda Software

Jacaranda Software was an Australian developer and publisher of educational computer games for children. It was based in Brisbane, Australia and published under the leadership of John Collins. The team worked as a department of Jacaranda-Wiley; the Australian imprint of American publishing company, Wiley. While it was considered initially as an experimental venture, it proved to be profitable from its first year through to its closure in the early 1990s.^[1] Jacaranda Software released titles for a range of computer systems, including the Apple II, Commodore 64, Macintosh, Microbee and BBC Micro.

Jacaranda Software

Industry	Video games
Headquarters	Brisbane, Australia
Key people	John Collins, Roseanne Gare, Bruce Mitchell, Gavin Hammond, David Smith, Steve Luckett

After the department closed, former employees David Smith, Bruce Mitchell, and Steve Luckett continued to write software for schools, under the name Greygum Software. They bought remaining stock, rights, and equipment from Jacaranda. Popular Jacaranda titles included Goldfields, Kraken: a deep sea quest, Desert Quest and Crossing the Mountains.

Greygum Software closed in 2018^{[citation needed]} due to the retirement of its owners.

Releases

Title	Year	Known Versions	References
Animal Rescue	1989	Apple II	[2]
Bush Rescue	1987	Apple II, BBC	[3][4]
Cardsharp	1988	Apple II, BBC	[3][5]
Cave Surveyor	1985	BBC	[3]
Clockwise: Time activities for the whole primary school	1992	Apple II, BBC	[3][6]
Crossing the Mountains	1989	Apple II, BBC	[3][7]
Cunning Running	1984	Apple II, C64, Microbee	[3][8][9]
Desert Quest	1984	Apple II, BBC, Macintosh	[3][10]
Dinosaur Discovery	1985	Apple II, BBC	[3][11][12]
Fleetfoot Express	1992	Apple II	[13]
Gold-Dust Island	1984	Apple II, BBC, C64, Microbee	[3][14][15]
Goldfields	1986	Apple II, BBC, C64, DOS, Macintosh, Windows	[3][16][17]
Jacaranda Maths 10 Software	1989		[3]
Kraken: A deep-sea quest	1989	Apple II, BBC, C64, Macintosh	[3][18][19]
Maths Bingo	1991	Apple II, BBC	[3]
Paws	1986	Apple II	[3][20]
Pieces of Eight	1986		[3][21]
Quick-Cartage Company	1984	Apple II, BBC, C64, Microbee	[3][22][23][24][25]
Raft-Away River	1984	Apple II, BBC, C64, Microbee	[3][26][27][28]
Scavenger Hunt	1984	Apple II, BBC, Microbee	[3][29][30][31]
Sheep-Dog Trial	1984	Apple II, C64, Microbee	[3][32][33][34]
Terra Australis: Voyages of trade and discovery	1988	Apple II, BBC	[3][35]
Transformations	1986	Apple II, BBC	[3][36]
The Tycoon Itch	1986	Apple II, BBC, C64	[3][37][38]
Vegetable Patch	1987	Apple II	[3][39]
Vote 1	1986	Apple II, BBC	[3][40]
Wordsmith	1985	Apple II, BBC	[3][41]
Wordswork	1985	Apple II, BBC	[3][42][43]
Wheat Farmer	1990	Apple II, BBC	[44]
Zoopak	1987	Apple II, BBC	[3][45]

External links

• Greygum Software Archived 2015-01-07 at the Wayback Machine - stockists of several former Jacaranda Software titles
• Using Computers in the Primary School by Rosemary Guttormsen (1987 Apple Computer Australia) - Apple educational handbook mentions Jacaranda Software among others