 Following the apparent success of the cane toad in eating the beetles threatening the sugarcane plantations of Puerto Rico , and the fruitful introductions into Hawaii and the Philippines , a strong push was made for the cane toad to be released in Australia to negate the pests ravaging the Queensland cane fields . As a result , 102 toads were collected from Hawaii and brought to Australia . After an initial release in August 1935 , the Commonwealth Department of Health decided to ban future introductions until a study was conducted into the feeding habits of the toad . The study was completed in 1936 and the ban lifted , when large @-@ scale releases were undertaken ; by March 1937 , 62 @,@ 000 toadlets had been released into the wild . The toads became firmly established in Queensland , increasing exponentially in number and extending their range into the Northern Territory and New South Wales . Recently , the toads have made their way into Western Australia and one has even been found on the far western coast in Broome . 
