Australian Essential Oils History and Emerging Trends
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Australian Essential Oils – History and Emerging Trends Ashley Dowell – Essential Oil Producers Association of Australia & Southern Cross University 23 rd October 2019 Introduction Australia has a unique flora largely of Gondwanan origin with later influence from the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia. Gondwana land was a pre-historic super continent including Australia, New Zealand, South America, Antarctica, Africa and the Indian sub-continent. Although separating early, it is proposed that Australia and India re-connected for a period of time before separating again. In more recent history Australia was connected to South-east Asia by land bridges which arose due to falling sea levels resulting from ice age glaciation Dominant plant families present in Australia include the essential oil bearing genus: Myrtaceae – Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, Leptospermum Rutaceae – Boronia, Citrus Other significant essential oil bearing plant families found in Australia are the Santalaceae, Myoporaceae, and Cupressaceae. Australia is often perceived as a land of deserts but is in fact a diverse collection of fire and drought adapted environments. Eucalypt woodlands make up to 39% of Australian vegetative cover, predominantly in New South Wales and Queensland followed by Hummock grasslands at 23% found mostly in Western Australia, Queensland and New SouthWales and Acacia woodlands occupying 10-20%, mostly in Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. There are significant areas of Acacia shrublands, Tussock grasslands and Chenopod shrubs and forblands, particularly in South Australia. There are relatively small (less than 70,000 Km2) but biologically significant areas of tropical and temperate rainforest in eastern coastal areas from Queensland to Tasmania, as well as Tall eucalypts forests and Callitris and Casuarina forests further inland and in sub-alpine areas. Figure 1. illustrates the current distribution of Australian vegetative cover with areas displayed in orange being highly modified pastures and annual crops; dark green, native forests and woodlands; light green, native grasslands and minimally modified pastures and pink being native shrub and heathlands. Figure 1. Contemporary satellite image of Australian vegetative cover . Figure 2. is a historical map of Australian vegetative cover prepared in the early 20 th century which more clearly illustrates the distribution of Australian vegetative cover prior to significant agricultural manipulation of the landscape This maps highlights the limited areas of tropical rainforest which existed in Australia, of which very little lowland rainforest exists today due to intensive agriculture. Essential oil bearing plant families are distributed across the majority of Australia’s diverse environments. Figure 2. Historical map of Australian vegetative cover. EssentEssentialial Oil Production in Australia Australia was first settled by the British in 1788 and in that same year Surgeon General White distilled the essential oil of Eucalyptus piperita found naturally at Sydney cove, the location of their first colony. The product was exported to Britain and purported to be more efficacious than oil of peppermint in alleviating pulmonary disorders. Although indigenous Australians are not known to have distilled essential oils they were commonly used in therapeutic inhalations made by “smoking” leaves on campfires, the sick person lain downwind of the therapeutic smoke. There are also reports of Cypress bark being used as a therapeutic blanket as an anti-febrile treatment. Significant commercial distillation of Eucalyptus radiata (var. Autraliana) was undertaken by Joseph Bosisto at Dandenong Creek (just outside of Melbourne) by the 1880’s. Eucalyptus oil production continued as a significant export industry until the 1950’s, when the post war for synthetic pharmaceuticals replaced “phyto-pharmaceuticals”. Australian Sandalwood From the 1820’s Pacific sandalwood (S. Yasi, S. austrocaledonicum and S. insulare ) were initially exploited by Australian traders. By the 1840’s Western Australian Sandalwood extraction commenced with large export market in China. This trade was exclusively in timber and not distilled essential oil. Attempts by government regulatory bodies to regulate the harvest quotas began in the 1800’s and continue today. Until recently all Australian Sandalwood extraction has been from wild harvest. Distillation of Australian Sandalwood oil began with Braddock in Perth by 1913. By the 1920-30’s the industry grew to produce significant exports of both wood and oil derived from S. spicatum in Western Australia and Santalum lanceolatum in Queensland. Australia’s involvement on two fronts during the Second World War resulted in substantial human casualties from a relatively small population. This resulted in a significant post war labour shortage which contributed to a decline in Sandalwood production. By the 1950-60’s the price for wood increasingly exceeded value of oil to the extent that commercial production of distilled Australian Sandalwood oil ceased by the 1970’s. Early Researchers Early researchers into the identification, classification and chemical analysis of Australian Native oils include most notably, R.T. Baker, H.G. Smith, AR Penfold and J. Morrison Henry George Smith (1852 –1924) was a chemist who produced pioneering work on the chemistry of the essential oils of the Australian flora. He began working with the Sydney Technological Museum in 1884 and by 1895 was working in collaboration with famous Australian botanist Joseph Maiden. He began work with botanist R.T Baker in 1896 looking at essential oils of Eucalyptus piperita. Their work resulted in publication of “A Research on the Eucalyptus especially in Regard to their Essential Oils” in 1902. This collaboration also resulted in the important publication “ A research on the Australian Pines” in 1910. Smith had been appointed assistant curator and economic chemist at the Sydney technological museum in 1899 and held this position until his retirement in 1921. Smith was the author of more than 100 papers with his work on the essential oils of the Australian flora achieving worldwide recognition. He is honoured in the name Eucalyptus smithii R. T. Bak. (1899) Figure 3. H.G. Smith Richard Thomas Baker (1854 -1941) was an Economic Botanist with the Sydney Technological museum, working initially as assistant curator to Joseph Maiden and later succeeding Maiden in this role. He worked closely with H.G. smith producing most significantly “A Research on the Eucalyptus especially in Regard to their Essential Oils” and “ A Research on the Australian Pines” mentioned previously. Figure 4. R.T. Baker Arthur de Ramon Penfold (1890 – 1980) was an Australian chemist and museum director. He worked initially with H. G. Smith and achieved world recognition largely in the field of the essential oils of the Australian flora. He published some hundred original research papers, many in collaboration with F. R. Morrison, in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. Figure 5. A.R. Penfold Frank Richard Morrison (1895 – 1967) was an Australian chemist and Museum director who worked initially as an assistant to Smith and Penfold and later collaborated with Penfold extensively on the research programme investigated in the diversity of essential oils produced by Australian plants. He succeeded Penfold as Director of the Australian Museum. The work of Penfold and Morrison demonstrated that chemotypic diversity in Australian native plant species is the norm rather than the exception in contrast to the thesis of their predecessors Baker and Smith who proposed that chemical consistency prevailed throughout a species to the extent that it could be used for taxonomic classification. This chemotypic diversity supports the adaptive nature of Australian plant species required to survive in a relatively harsh and unpredictable environments. Recent researchers In the latter half of the 20 th century there are numerous significant researchers in the field of Australian Native oils but most notably: Erick Lassak, Joseph Brophy, Emilio Ghisalberti and Ian Southwell. Erich V. Lassak (1934 - 2015) began work with the Sydney Museum in 1964 gaining his Ph.D in chemistry from the University of NSW in 1972. He worked as the Senior Research Scientist with the NSW Department of Agriculture from 1979 and published approximately 50 papers on Australian Native Oils. He most famously co-authoured with T. McCarthy, the classic book “Australian Medicinal Plants “published in 1983. He was President of the Australian Society of Perfumers and Flavourists, Chairman of Standards Australia Committee CH-021 Essential oils and founding Secretary of EOPAA (Essential Oil Producers Association of Australia) Figure 6. Erich Lassak Associate Professor Emilio Ghisalberti (1943 – 2015) was a Natural Products Chemist who worked on the isolation and structural elucidation of natural products from Western Australian plants. Amongst a wide range of work he produced comprehensive reviews of genus Eremophila and Boronia, looking in particular at their respective aromatic components. He worked as a lecturer at University of Western Australia from 1970 – 2012 producing more than 100 scientific publications. Figure 7. E. L. Ghisaberti Joseph John (JJ) Brophy is the most prolific author of the chemistry of Australian essential oils having published over 100 papers from 1969 to the present day. He has worked primarily at the University of NSW where he currently holds