Tribal Scent (ATOM Study Guide)

Our journey begins in the birthplace of Buddha: Nepal. Here we glimpse the importance of sandalwood in ancient rituals. Next, we visit some of the major perfume creators in France, where sandalwood plays a starring role in many modern rituals. Here we grasp the importance of sandalwood to the entire perfume industry.

India, previously the leading sandalwood supplier, has – through mismanagement, corruption and poaching – almost obliterated sandalwood from its lands. But all might not be rosy in Australia either. Persistent poaching rumours abound, now that prices are sky-high.

Indigenous Australians have been using sandalwood for body perfuming, meditating smoking/cleansing ceremonies, medicines and love potions for millennia.

Indigenous musician, dancer, artist and activist Dr Richard Walley takes us into the desert, where Indigenous Australians harvest native sandalwood for major companies, the largest of which is Givaudan.

Part of the fair-trade motivation by manufacturers is the work of the Natural Stewardship Circle, which for the first time allows cameras to film a meeting where Richard puts forward the case for Indigenous harvesters.

This narrative arc is partly encapsulated in juxtapositions: one of the oldest civilisations on the planet working in harmony with one of the most sophisticated and urbane; the ancient medicinal and scientific knowledge of Aboriginal Australians to the new scientific knowledge of the medicinal and lifestyle benefits of sandalwood; the role of science in determining sustainability supporting the collective knowledge of 50,000 years of experience.

In Australia's north-west, we see the first harvest of a sustainable three-million-tree plantation of Indian sandalwood. With prices of up to $140,000 per tonne, Indian sandalwood lives up to its name as 'liquid gold'. Will these plantation timbers impact on the Indigenous harvesters? Or will the rediscovery of the medicinal benefits of the oil by major international pharmaceutical companies mean a different future and place even further pressure on sandalwood stocks?

Curriculum Links

This study guide is mainly aimed at mid to senior secondary school levels, with relevance to English, History, Geography, Indigenous Studies, Film and Media Studies, Environmental Studies, Ecology, Sustainability and Business Studies (Ethics in Business).