Cotton and Sandalwood

Various crops have been tried in the Ord River Irrigation Area. Some did well, others not so well. The original crop of cotton was eaten by pests and so it was abandoned for several years. After some years of completely cleaning the ground, the scientists had another go.

I was driving around looking for the Sandalwood Shop, but instead came across fields and fields of cotton. I was amazed to see cotton boluses as far as the eye could see:

Really top quality fluffy white cotton. I had not been expecting this at all!

The Quintis sandalwood operation was 14 kms out of town. A short video described how seeds of Indian sandalwood had been brought from India and the crop had thrived, going from strength to strength. It is now the biggest plantation in the world, being ideally suited to the tropical conditions. Quintis also bought the Mount Romance factory near Albany, where Australian sandalwood is grown in the cooler climate of southern W.A.

A team of developers has come up with a huge range of sandalwood products: perfumes, cosmetics, joss sticks and incense burners: a clever marketing effort has put it all in the public eye. Anything that could be possibly made from sandalwood has been! This is part of the shop:

A recent competition has persuaded ten top perfumers from around the world to produce new and innovative scents for the company. I tried a few samples but didn’t buy any!