Our Story
Our Story starts with a surprising fact about where most of the world’s eucalyptus oil originates from.
Waslee Downs Aerial View
Eucalyptus Polybractea Seedlings
Planting Team
Our story began in 2015 when we identified an opportunity for Australia to claim back much of the global market share in eucalyptus oil lost to Chinese production. It came as a shock to the Main Camp WA team to find out that approximately 90% of the global supply of eucalyptus oil originates from China.
The MCWA team saw an opportunity to once again grow eucalyptus for oil on a significant scale in Australia. After an Australia wide search for an appropriate mix of eucalyptus species (there are over 700 of them after all) and farming property that lasted 2 years, the MCWA team settled on Waslee Downs - about two and half hours drive north of Perth at Badgingarra.
From acquisition in mid-2019, the MCWA team set about developing the 1,300 ha property’s significant but underutilised water resource and immediately planted the first 40 hectares of irrigated eucalyptus polybractea.
The Present
Its been a busy time since acquiring Waslee Downs in mid-2019. By the spring of 2021 we have planted over 1.6 million seedlings and now have over 160 ha of overhead irrigated crop. In order to process the crop, we have built a distillery in the middle of the property which has the added bonus of having spectacular views of the district.
To avoid burning diesel in utilizing our water resource we have acquired 5 second hand wind turbines from Germany that will soon sit proudly on the hill behind the distillery towering 63 meters over the surrounding country side. At their peak, the wind turbines will produce 2.5MW of power and allow us to meet all on-farm needs and feed power back into the West Australian grid.
Waslee Downs Distillation Plant
October 2020 and the harvester goes into the crop for the first time
August 2021 and the wind turbines arrive at Waslee Downs after a long journey from 18 years work in Germany
The Future
Expanding the crop
The MCWA team are committed to putting more eucalyptus seedlings in the ground at Waslee and expanding production over the coming years. Our research breeding program with the Western Australian Government will further improve future productivity and expand production.
Leveraging the power of the wind
As an environmentally sensitive farming operation, MCWA is focused on having the lowest possible carbon footprint. Our farm is in the Mid-West region of Western Australia - an area of global significance for renewable energy. Therefore, it is a natural step to install wind turbines on the farm, showcasing best practices with an energy independent solution.
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