Wooden gold

The photo here shows a large quantity of Western Australian sandalwood, destined for export to the Asian market. Sandalwood was compared to gold because of the money it brought into the colony from the global trade.

Western Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) is a slow-growing, long-lived small tree which occurs naturally in the southern two thirds of Western Australia. It is hemiparasitic, which means it only grows with the help of other plants growing alongside.

Aboriginal people in Western Australia had long used sandalwood as a source of bush food and medicine, and also in smoking ceremonies. It wasn’t long before Europeans in the new colony began using it for trade – the first sandalwood export was recorded in 1844, and at one point it accounted for more than half of the state’s revenue.

Over-harvesting of sandalwood, and land-clearing for wheat and sheep, has diminished the population of sandalwood since the 1880s. In South Australia it is listed as a vulnerable species.