Kunzea Essential Oil

All across the brisk Tasmanian state, the luscious green properties may look as if they have been touched gently by light snow. Kunzea is considered a weed or pest for most farmers so when it was first offered that it could be harvested, locals found it strange. The Kunzea plant is traditionally a very low yielding plant with an average harvesting bin of 5 cubic metres giving about 4 to 5 kilos of oil. When the brush is too tall for the usual tractor harvester, a skid steer is used. A propagation house is used for growing seedlings which has been planted close to the distillery.

After harvesting the biomass, the bins are then driven back to the still and steam distilled. In steam distillation, the biomass is directly contacted with steam. Steam generated in a boiler is passed through the bed, so that the essential oil in biomass is leached out to the steam.

The region has around 800 residents who harvest the oil in the wild which can be 45 to 50 kilometres from the still. The distillation process uses water from the spring which runs underground and on top of the still-house. In the future, they plan to use the waste oil for running the boilers, and currently all the biomass leftover after distilling is used by the locals as mulch for gardens and to cover their seedlings.

• May help to relieve muscle & joint pain.

• May help treat skin issues.

• Assist in the treatment of respiratory infections.

• Suitable for oily skin and spot treatment.

• Expectorant & antimicrobial properties.