The sandalwood tree | Bush Heritage Australia Skip to main content
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Richard McLellan monitoring Sandalwood trees. Photo Shayne Thomson.

If every scent tells a story, the Australian Sandalwood Tree must be a library; rich with ecological, cultural and economic history books. But today, unsustainable harvesting, climate change and feral predators are pushing the tree perilously close to extinction.

In this episode, we drive down the Gunbarrel Highway to the Birriliburu Indigenous Protected Area in WA’s central deserts to find some of the oldest sandalwood trees in the world. Underneath their scrambling canopies, we ask: How are they going in the wild? What makes these trees so special? And what does their future hold?

 

Featuring: Richard McLellan (PhD Student and sandalwood enthusiast), Clinton Farmer (Martu Traditional Custodian and sandalwood harvester), Stella Shipway (Bush Heritage Healthy Country Manager).

Produced by: Kate Thorburn and Eliza Herbert (Host)

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