Bringing balance back to sandalwood

As a Martu man initiated under the Puntu law of Western Australia, I carry a deep cultural responsibility.

For our people, the knowledge of country lives not only in our minds, but in our hearts and hands. We live by the belief that if you look after the tree, the tree will look after you.

Our people are the custodians of dutjahn, the sacred Australian sandalwood tree that has always been part of our dreaming. Today, we stand at a critical juncture; a moment that will shape how this sacred tree is sustainably harvested for generations to come.

The state government is reviewing the Sandalwood (Limitation of Removal of Sandalwood) Order; a process that happens once a decade and sets limits on the quantity of sandalwood that can be harvested annually, and who can harvest it.

This may seem insignificant, but for the Martu people it represents an opportunity for reforming a broken system that has long placed profits and volume ahead of sustainability, cultural responsibility and Aboriginal economic inclusion.

Conservationists report that wild sandalwood populations have declined by more than 90 per cent during the past 175 years. Many trees harvested are older than 100 years, and natural regeneration rates are dangerously low.

Despite this, about 40,000 wild trees are still removed every year, with 80 per cent of that harvest allocated to the state-owned Forest Products Commission (FPC), which exports to low-cost overseas markets.

While we support the export of sandalwood and its value-add products, the current situation prices out ethically produced Australian sandalwood such as Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils and undermines confidence among other Aboriginal enterprises considering entry into the industry.

I co-founded Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils to show what’s possible when cultural knowledge meets commercial acumen. Our company is 50 per cent Aboriginal owned, and we work on country with traditional owners to harvest sandalwood ethically, regeneratively and with deep respect.

Our oil is used by some of the world’s top fragrance and cosmetics houses; not because it’s the cheapest, but because it is among the most sustainable, culturally grounded and ethically sourced sandalwood oils available. This has been recognised globally by the United Nations Equator Prize, which DSO was awarded in 2019.

Importantly, research continues to demonstrate what we already know through lived experience: Aboriginal-led harvesting practices are more sustainable than conventional approaches.

Rather than volume extraction, Aboriginal custodians utilise traditional ecological knowledge to harvest in smaller, highly selective and culturally guided ways.

These methods prioritise the long-term health of the resource, safeguard young regrowth, and respect the relationship between country, culture and community.

For our people, sustainability is not a target, it is a way of being. We harvest, with restraint, and with responsibility to future generations.

The current system favours the FPC over Aboriginal enterprise. The FPC was never intended to be a long-term player, instead tasked with fostering private investment in forestry before exiting the industry once that investment was established.

Yet the commission still exists and operates with commercial incentives that compete with the cultural, environmental and social outcomes Aboriginal businesses are striving to achieve. Worse still, this dominance is financially unsustainable, with the FPC failing to return a profit in recent years and forecasting continued losses, including a $14.6 million operating deficit for 2024-25.

There is another way forward: increasing quota allocations to Aboriginal-led enterprises while reducing the overall wild harvest through the Sandalwood Order will protect the tree and empower the people who have always protected it.

The economic opportunity this presents is transformational. We’re talking about long-term, place-based employment rooted in cultural identity, harvesting, processing, value-adding and exporting.

We’re talking about community-owned businesses growing wealth and resilience on country. We’re talking about self-determination made real.

With recent state and federal funding backing for our Aboriginal Sandalwood Industry Capability Program, we have a skilled and growing workforce. But without structural change, our capacity to scale will remain capped.

The current state Labor government came to office with a commitment to empower Aboriginal communities, and it is our hope that Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn will seize this once-in-a-decade opportunity to deliver a reformed Sandalwood Order that puts sustainability, Aboriginal leadership and economic equity at its heart.

Let this be the moment we return that wisdom to the heart of the industry for the benefit of the land, the people and future generations.

• Darren Farmer is a Martu man and director of Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils