AUSTRALIA'S  MAGIC  OIL

Captain Cook was not a botanist, but his companion, Joseph Banks, was. Although he had never seen paperbark trees before he knew that botanically they were related to myrtle and named them Melaleuca leptospermum  or ' black and white, slender seed'.

The black and white referred to the black trunks and white branches of the shrubby riverbank trees. Banks wagered that he could make a passable tea with the leaves, even naming them for that, and, being a daring person, soon had the billy boiling.  

Who would have thought that while he was wrong in thinking his ‘tea’ would rival the products of Ceylon, he was on the right track? Later, others were to use heat to extract precious properties from these same leaves.

 ……………

This article continues with details of the health-giving properties of tea-tree oil, its uses and how it is obtained. 

………………..

(finishes…)

Joseph Banks, as he stirred his billy in l770, could never have known what a brew was bubbling  there. Over two hundred years later we are still only  just learning to make use of one of Australia's greatest gifts to our health.

 

©Sally Hammond 2006

Picture Credits: ©Gordon Hammond 2006

______________________________________

Please email Sally Hammond for a pricing schedule or to discuss purchase of this article.

• Currently the article runs to approximately 800 words.

• The length of the article may be changed according to editorial needs, and the Factfile may be expanded, however if additional work is requested it will affect the final cost of the article.

• Pictures are available (see gallery for prices, selection and ordering).

• This article is currently unpublished. All rights available.

 

·      KEY WORDS: Australia, tea-tree oil, natural therapies, health, history