Western Australian Sandalwood

Santalum spicatum, the Australian sandalwood, is a shrubby tree native to semi-arid areas at the edge of southwest Australia, in Western Australia, and also found in South Australia. The Noongar peoples call it waang, uilarac, wolgol or wollgat, and the Martu of the Gibson Desert call it dutjahn. Aboriginal Australians have used it for thousands of years as bush food and medicine, and in smoking ceremonies. It is a hemi-parasite that draws nutrients from the roots of host plants, mainly Acacia acuminata. From the 1840s colonists cut it to export to China for incense, and millions of trees have been exported. The wood is now distilled into sandalwood oil, whose chemistry includes ximenynic acid and many antimicrobial compounds. Since 2015 Aboriginal Australians, through the Dutjahn custodians of the Martu community, have co-managed an oil company.