Hard copies of the Australian New Crops Newsletter are available from the publisher, Dr Rob Fletcher. Details of availability are included in the Advice on Publications Available . Contribution from Andrew Rado, Department of Conservation and Land Management, Kununurra, Western Australia. Sandalwood has long been used by man and it plays an important role as a ceremonial burning material during religious rites of Hindus, Buddhists, Parsis and Moslems in South-east Asia. The high value of the wood and the oil has led to a steady decline of native sandalwood trees and increasing efforts to establish plantations.
Sandalwood is the source of sandalwood oil, a high value oil used in perfumes, soaps and incenses.
The wood itself is also prized for woodcarving. Unfortunately, the resource is being rapidly depleted due to unsustainable harvesting. The perceived rotation length of S. album in Indonesia and the ORIA in northern Australia is 20 to 30 years which is much shorter than the 100 years for the native Australian species, Santalum spicatum . Australian research on Santalum album began in 1983 in the ORIA with some 150 trees being planted. Plantings have steadily increased in recent years.