For National Tree Day, Richard McLellan takes us into the South Australian outback for a sandalwood survey, exploring the significance of the species and its unfortunate plight.
Bon Bon Station Reserve, in Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara Country, just south of Coober Pedy, is right on the northern, outer edge of the range of Australian Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum). Records indicated that there were “one or two trees” scattered “here and there” around the property, so a baseline survey was instigated to better document the number, age, and condition of the sandalwood plants on the property.
I was joined in the survey by long-time Bush Heritage Australia volunteers Garry McDonald and Anne Williams who, within mere nanoseconds of finding their first sandalwood tree, had the gnarly-but-gorgeously-aromatic tree species firmly under their skin.
We spent a full week together criss-crossing the reserve, looking for, and documenting sandalwood trees.
One of the things that struck us most in the week of searching for sandalwood on Bon Bon was a paragraph we found in a book about the history of the surrounding region. It read:
“During the last half of the decade, progress around the stations had slowed considerably with the bulk of the rebuilding era of the pastoral sector completed. This of course, had been an enormous boost to the economy of the district, particularly during what had been the darkest years of the Great Depression. Even so, few workers were without employment of some description… (including) the “pulling” of sandalwood on nearby properties. ... even as late as 1940, several old identities camped on the outskirts of the town working steadily at removing bark from gathered timber before loading it on to railway trucks in preparation for the long journey to the Asian markets.” (See picture below. Source: Monroe, R. J (1997), Kingoonya: A Way of Life. The history of the Kingoonya township and district.)
What shocked/dismayed me most about this passage was that, even here – virtually “at the end of the line” on the very northern fringes of its scattered and precarious existence across southern and western Australia – this iconic Australian species was ‘hunted down and killed’, without any consideration for its cultural and ecological importance.
The end result is that today, sandalwood is listed as a threatened species in South Australia with hefty fines or imprisonment penalties for illegally harvesting the fragile plant.
Unfortunately, we didn’t find too many, but enough to brighten up the day of Bush Heritage ecologist, Pat Taggart and Healthy Landscape Manager, Graeme Finlayson who initiated the survey. Most of the ‘stands’ of sandalwood only had one or two very old trees (more than 100-200 years old) in relatively poor health.
This was consistent with the results of a survey I conducted in the Western Australian rangelands in 2021: The Great Sandalwood Transect. However, providing a glimmer of hope for the species’ future, we found a few younger trees – mostly (unfortunately) growing directly under parent trees where they are almost certain to perish.
We were also heartened by the minimal evidence of grazing impact on the plants that we found, no doubt a tangible benefit of the sustainable conservation management being implemented on the reserve. The small number of plants on the property is almost certainly a sad legacy of the unsustainable harvest that happened here, and across South Australia 80-100 years ago. 
But it is also consistent with what I and other researchers have found throughout the entire sandalwood range – where the species is threatened by unsustainable legal harvesting (which sadly is still occurring in Western Australia), illegal harvesting, loss of seed dispersers like Burrowing Bettongs, grazing (by kangaroos, rabbits, goats, sheep, cattle, camels, horses, donkeys, fire, drought, and climate change. It is listed globally on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a ‘Vulnerable’ species.
We spent an exciting and uplifting final day planting sandalwood seed with reserve managers, Wayne and Karen Lawrence. Slowly disappearing from the wild in the rangelands, sandalwood will likely only persist into the future across much of its former range if it is pro-actively cared for by land managers, and replaced in carefully planned re-seeding, revegetation, and restoration programs.
Bush Heritage Australia is part of the solution. They want to make sure that it isn’t “the end of the line” for sandalwood. Not on their watch.
Listen to The Sandalwood Tree episode on Big Sky Country below or wherever you get your podcasts.
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.
BLOG 02/06/2023
For people living in cities and towns, rubbish removal is one of the many conveniences of life that we take for granted. We pop waste in our various bins and then wheel the bins out onto the road for the council trucks to pick up. But what about those who live remotely?
Read MoreBLOG 13/07/2022
Wayne and I have been at Bon Bon for 8 short months. I say short because it has not given her enough time to trust us completely with her secrets, not enough time to know how she works and what she wants from us, but enough time to feel her gratitude as Bush Heritage works to restore her to all she can be.
Read MoreBLOG 28/03/2022
Having come from a comfortable suburb with all the conveniences I took a lot of services for granted, including rubbish removal. Now we are living on reserve, things are not quite so easy. What is brought in reserve stays on reserve to be re-used, unless we can find another way to remove it.
Read MoreBLOG 22/03/2022
A bee survey conducted in 2010 has yielded six new bee species. Identification isn’t always easy: there are 1650 described bee species, with keys to only half of them. For species not in keys, the only avenue is to compare them with type specimens in collections.
Read MoreBLOG 04/03/2022
We always talk about the weather, and lately there’s been a lot of it to talk about. In South Australia there have been significant rainfall events over most of the state’s arid lands. At Bon Bon we’ve had over 60 mm of rain over two weeks, which has changed the landscape in so many ways.
Read MoreBLOG 21/02/2022
Bon Bon Station Reserve is home to what is believed to be the northern most population of Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats. This population also holds the distinction of existing in one of the lowest rainfall zones across the species’ distribution, recording an average of just 150 mm annually.
Read MoreBLOG 18/02/2022
While dust storms have been a regular occurrence across much of Australia's rangelands, at Bon Bon cryptogams are replacing heavily impacted bare soil and perennial grasses are coming back.
Read MoreBLOG 12/11/2021
The Conversation recently published an article about the devastating impact that rabbits have had and continue to exert on Australia plants, wildlife and landscapes.
Read MoreBLOG 11/06/2021
I'm completing my PhD with the Spatial Sciences Group in the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Adelaide in collaboration with Bush Heritage Australia. My research will be conducted at Bush Heritage’s Bon Bon and Boolcoomatta reserves in South Australian.
Read MoreBLOG 03/12/2020
In the past four-and-a-half years living on Bon Bon Reserve, we've had to evacuate for rocket launches, live firing trials and now the return and landing of the Hayabusa II – a Japanese spacecraft carrying the Sample Return Capsule from the asteroid Ryugu!
Read MoreBLOG 24/11/2020
One of the most anticipated events on the calendar for our South Australian reserves is small vertebrate trapping. These surveys provide the opportunity to eyeball some of the lesser encountered critters that roam through our landscapes. This year on Bon Bon, after two years of drought we've finally had decent rainfall so we were all excited by what the surveys might find.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 25/09/2020
How a fox stomach containing 63 centipedes could hold the key to understanding the effectiveness of feral predator management.
Read MoreBLOG 07/07/2020
European Rabbits have a high impact on our conservation targets at Bon Bon. They compete with native herbivores for resources, supress native vegetation and provide a reliable food source for foxes and cats.
Read MoreBLOG 27/04/2020
Eleven fox scats collected on Bon Bon Station Reserve by our South Australian Arid Rangelands Ecologist Graeme Finlayson late last year were sent away for analysis to get a better picture of what is on the menu at the reserve.
Read MoreBLOG 02/03/2020
This year I was lucky enough to be accepted as a volunteer for the annual fauna trapping on Bon Bon Station Reserve. I'm a member of the 'Newcastle cluster' of Bush Heritage supporters – a small but keen group prepared to travel great distances to volunteer. So it was with great excitement that we set off on the long trek to Bon Bon in November.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 22/03/2019
A landmark restoration project on Bon Bon is helping native species to bounce back.
Read MoreBLOG 25/01/2019
I volunteered at Bon Bon over Christmas and after my jobs were done around the homestead, my husband and I would take off with our head torch, camera, water and GPS and we wandered along the sandy tracks, in search of one of my favourite reptiles - geckos.
Read MoreBLOG 26/09/2018
My early days as a wildlife ecologist were spent driving around spotlighting on the back of a ute in the Murraylands of South Australia, chasing down Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats to learn what we could about this iconic Australian species. For me it was a life-shaping experience.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 10/09/2018
Sitting under this Western Myall and looking out over the salt lake is one of my favourite spots to stop for lunch and is luckily exactly the halfway mark when I do my rounds, checking the camera monitoring grid on Bon Bon Station Reserve.
Read MoreBLOG 15/08/2018
Bon Bon is within the traditional lands of the Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara community and this year marks 10 years since Bush Heritage Australia acquired the Bon Bon Station pastoral lease.
Read MoreBLOG 01/02/2018
I work in the Bush Heritage Melbourne office but for 3 weeks of January, along with my colleague Paul Young, I took up a caretaking role at Bon Bon Station Reserve in northern South Australia. Besides continuing with the work we normally do at the Melbourne office, we took on caretaking tasks around the reserve. Caretaking at Bon Bon Reserve could not have been more fun for a couple of novice birdos.
Read MoreBLOG 09/12/2017
Is there such a thing as having too much fun in conservation work? We don't think so ... We had it ALL last week during the reptile and small mammal survey event on Bon Bon Station Reserve.
Read MoreBLOG 10/08/2017
Kate Taylor and husband Clint live on and manage our Bon Bon Reserve (SA). She recently noticed these creepy and dangerous sacks - home to Processionary Catepillars (Ochrogaster lunifer).
Read MoreBLOG 24/07/2017
When the chance presented itself to caretake Bon Bon Station Reserve, Michael Uhrig jumped at the opportunity. He got on the phone and asked his mother June to join him - remote caretaking roles have a minimum requirement of two people, in-line with basic remote area safety protocols - you always need backup!
Read MoreBLOG 26/03/2017
Various infiltration and soil erosion mitigation techniques have been applied in some areas on Bon Bon Station Reserve over the past few years, where we've had the tools (and advice) available to start a repair process. We've some attached photos here to show the results so far.
Read MoreBLOG 21/03/2017
While taking a walk around a clay pan we were very surprised to see a small snail in a tiny puddle of water leftover from the last rain. Our species list for aquatic (or water-loving) species is very short, as this is one of the driest habitable landscapes in Australia.
Read MoreBLOG 27/02/2017
At Bon Bon Station Reserve (South Australia) in the country's arid zone, there's a lot of baseline data being collected. One of these data sets is on the abundance and diversity of small mammals and reptile species that live in some of Australia's most harsh conditions.
Read MoreBLOG 13/11/2016
While out in the field on Bon Bon Reserve, where I work as a Field Officer, Aaron Fenner (South Australian Rangeland Alliance Ecologist) and I were super excited to spot this amazing lizard – Moloch horridus, otherwise well known as the 'Thorny Devil'. It's a new species record for the reserve!
Read MoreBLOG 26/10/2016
An amazing array of yellows, white, purples, blue-greens and reds have recently brightened the often subdued colours of the arid-zone landscapes across outback South Australia.
Read MoreBLOG 09/03/2016
Peter and Margie Calder are much valued volunteers. Over the past few years they've volunteered over 20 weeks of their time to their 'local reserve' – Bon Bon Station (it's only a day's drive away). They wrote this blog entry after completing their 8th placement at Bon Bon.
Read MoreBLOG 07/01/2016
It's time to look back on 2015 and share some of the seasonal happenings and everyday events that shaped the year at Bon Bon Station Reserve. It's a real privilege to live and work in this amazing arid environment and to have the opportunity to experience and interact with nature.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 21/12/2015
Out on Bon Bon Station Reserve, the heat can sear your skin and leave you breathless. And yet this massive piece of land, which rivals the size of Sydney, is home to some of Australia’s most extraordinary creatures like the southern hairy-nosed wombat and the rare chestnut breasted whiteface. Here's how we manage wildfire risk for Bon Bon’s diverse plants and animals.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 21/09/2015
Bon Bon Station Reserve in South Australia is a true outback marvel, an expansive landscape dotted with shimmering salt lakes, red dune sands supporting mulga trees, open ironstone plains studded with stately myall trees and stunningly beautiful expanses of pearl bluebush. Our challenge is to protect it from invasive Buffel Grass.
Read MoreBLOG 02/06/2015
Two new bird species have been added to the Bon Bon bird list by a group of 19 dedicated bird watchers who volunteered some time at Bon Bon to check up on the local bird life over the Easter weekend.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 20/03/2015
A new long-term monitoring program using remote infra-red cameras on both Boolcoomatta and our Bon Bon Reserve will help protect vulnerable natives such as the plains wanderer from feral foxes and cats.
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