Australian Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) – A brief History

In the 1840’s, sandalwood was Western Australia’s biggest export earner. Oil was distilled for the first time in 1875 and by the turn of the century there was intermittent production of Australian Sandalwood oil. C. L. Braddock produced sandalwood oil around 1916 by the Swan River in Belmont, Western Australia, but the oil was in its crude form.

Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) oil is inherently lower in santalol concentration (a component traditionally used to define ‘quality’) and was deemed to be inferior to Indian sandalwood (Santalum album) oil. The use of santalols concentration as a definition of quality evolved as a result of the high levels found in Indian sandalwood oil, and the efforts of the Australian producers to enter the global market as an analogue of the Indian oil.

Promoters at the time planned to establish a manufacturing plant near Albany. A company called The West Australian Distillery Company Limited of London briefly established a plant, but folded after minimal production and export of oil.

In 1921, Plaimar Ltd of West Perth began systematic production and scientific control of Australian Sandalwood oil. Plaimar founder, H V Marr, was able to distil the oil with higher santalol content, so the product was deemed to be of enhanced quality. The essential oil obtained was a colourless to pale yellow, somewhat viscous liquid, with a woody, persistent odour and a bitter taste.

As a result of this improvement in the quality of Western Australian sandalwood oil, it was included in the pharmacopoeias of several countries, including Britain, France, Japan and Belgium.

Australian sandalwood oil was used as an internal antiseptic in the 1920’s and determined to be “of equal therapeutic value to the oil of Santalum album” Contemporary evidence avers that, due to the presence of E, E farnesol and epi – alpha bisabolol in the Australian oil, its therapeutic properties are in fact greater than that of the Indian oil. In the early 1920’s clinical trials were undertaken on the Australian oil at several public hospitals. These trials were very successful, and Australian sandalwood oil was used continuously from this time until being superseded by antibiotics.

The Chief Resident Medical Officer of Perth Hospital, Western Australia, signed an extract dated 18th December 1923, which stated: “ In reference to…Western Australian Sandalwood Oil… the oil has been very extensively used, with good results.”26 The physician in charge of the Venereal Disease Clinic at Perth Hospital commented at the same time, “ I have the pleasure of reporting that I found it quite equal to the imported oil.”26

The Honorary Gynaecologist of Perth Hospital drew the same conclusions, as did the Chief Dispenser of that hospital, the Chief Resident of Fremantle Hospital and the Principal Medical Officer of the Victorian Board of Health.

It was only with the advent of the use of antibiotics that Australian sandalwood oil ceased to be used therapeutically. As a result of this decrease in demand, commercial production halted in 1963.

Marr HV. The Essential Oil of Australian Sandalwood. The Australasian Journal of Pharmacy, September 20 1926, p 805.