Perfumed pineries: environmental history of Australia's Callitris forests

Abstract

The perfumed pineries have survived heat, aridity and cold in Australia for at least a million years. They range from semi-arid scrublands to tropical woodlands. The first people named the trees: munlarru, marung, marinhi, pimba or binba, gurraay, jinchilla, karapaarr and puratharr, kulilypuru or kuli, kamtirrikani, and more, each particular to people and place. European settiers called them pine: Oyster Bay, Port Macquarie, Murray River, white, black and several more. Botanists placed them in a genus they first called Frenela. Now it is Callitris with fifteen species spread across Australia and two in New Caledonia. They yield termite-resistant timber for houses, fences, poles or mines. They produce blue and green oils for aromatherapy and a resin whose collection, we think, once prompted the famous forester, Harold Swain, to call them the 'perfumed pineries' of our tide. Their greatest forest is the Pilliga of New South Wales—A Million Wild Acres to the many readers of Eric Rolls' evocative history.