About us

Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils is a Western Australian based sandalwood oil distillation company backed by Dutjahn Custodians, Kutkabbuba Aboriginal Corporation and the founders of WA Sandalwood Plantations.

A company built on mutual respect and ethics, we are 50% Indigenous-owned and make unique essential oils by fusing Indigenous harvested wild wood from native title lands with sustainably managed plantation wood.

A UN Equator Prize and two-time Australian Exporter Award winning company, we supply many of the world’s largest fragrance companies and some of the most prestigious cosmetics companies with over 60% of our product exported.

Our mission is to continuously learn and evolve, seeking out ways to improve our standards of ethics, quality, sustainability, service, innovation and cultural respect.

We are a company that respects sandalwood country, its people and those who use sandalwood products.

OUR REASON
FOR BEING

At Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils we believe that Australian Aboriginal people have a right to share in the supply chains success of sandalwood products and that Santalum Spicatum is an incredibly important agricultural product for Australia and the world. Our company evolved out of separately created, but aligned visions of sustainable agroforestry, responsibility, value adding and economic success.

CONNECT.

The sandalwood tree in Australia, Dutjahn, is culturally important, sacred tree valued by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike. Its harvest, processing, formulation, and sale is a great opportunity for Aboriginal people to derive independent, equitable, significant income while maintaining a connection to country.

SUPPORT.

Sustainably growing Australian Santalum spicatum improves soils, creates rural employment, supports local ecosystems, and contributes to regional and national economic prosperity for the benefit of all Australians. Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils is a company that operates to include Aboriginal people in the success of an important, culturally, and geographically relevant species.

All together collectively we share in this journey.png

Darren Farmer
Chairman of Dutjahn Custodians | Owner, Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils

Our core values course through every part of Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils’ operation and drive our identity, our product, and our conduct. Our intent to be true to our values makes us believe in what we do, and our values are represented in our products.

Ethics

Ethics are built on honesty, fairness and knowing what is right and wrong. We think that operating ethically is the only way to work. Pricing, profits, wages, returns and investments can be made ethically. Decisions, behaviour, conduct can be all ethical. Not for profit foundations can be funded to redress inequality. Choice is what determines who we are and how we do it, and we choose to operate ethically.
Sustainability

There is no reason why a business like Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils can’t continue and be sustainable forever. Trees can be planted, grow, harvested, and replanted for another generation’s success. Indigenous custodians have worked with and protected sandalwood country for thousands of years and modern agroforestry is always improving for a changing world. By offering sustainable sandalwood products to the world, Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils is facilitating ongoing sustainable custodianship.
Outstanding quality

The sacred wood of Dutjahn is a source of pride for Aboriginal people. Sandalwood oil is not a cheap commodity, it is highly prized and carefully used. We want to make the best oil from a sacred tree and gift the product to all people around the world. We want to deliver the best quality products that represent how we feel about Dutjahn, where it comes from and who it came from.
Innovation

We want sandalwood to be recognized for what it is and what it represents, a remarkable and important tree full of beauty, hope and a gift from nature to humanity. Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils is focussed on innovating all aspects of our company to bring out the best of sandalwood from process improvements to new product development. There is more to give from nature and Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils is exploring how to facilitate the offer.

Beginnings

Dutjahn Custodians (DC) is a 100% Indigenous company consisting of Darren Farmer, Clinton Farmer, Kado Muir and Katina Law. Darren and Clinton are traditional Gibson Desert 2nd contact Aboriginal desert nomads and hold a cultural responsibility to safeguard Santalum spicatum (Dutjahn) in their homelands that are situated deep in the Gibson desert, northeast of Kalgoorlie.

Ken Farmer was born into a desert culture, secretive desert nomads who had first contact with white people in the 1950’s. In 1977, Ken established a vision for his descendants to keep their cultural integrity and established a business framed around Australian sandalwood. In this same year, Ken’s son, Clinton Farmer, was born and is now the current Chairman of Kutkabbuba Aboriginal Corporation (KAC). Raising his nephew Darren alongside Clinton, he reinforced the need for the family to work with their culture.

Clinton took the responsibility of running the sandalwood enterprise, which he does to this day, and Darren devoted his life to campaigning for Indigenous rights. Working alongside Kado Muir for 25 years, they supported their elder’s pursuit of Native Title Land Rights. They have fought alongside their elders for the right to occupy and benefit from their land. In December 2014, the Federal Court of Australia awarded the Martu people “Exclusive possession and full natural resource rights”.

In 2014, Darren Farmer was able to convince Stephen Birkbeck, an old and trusted confidante of the 1st contact elders and global sandalwood oil authority, to assist bringing his people into the sandalwood industry. Soon after, Kado Muir invited his former University colleague, Katina Law into DC and together they began to build a company that made sandalwood oil. Through persistence, collaboration, and strategic negotiating DC was able to secure a 1,000-tonne sandalwood oil processing contract and establish a processing joint venture with Keith Drage and Ron Mulder (WA Sandalwood Plantations Pty Ltd founders).

Working with Australian farmers and investors, Keith and Ron have built a debt free structure that manages 13,000 hectares of spicatum plantations that provides vital soil salinity mitigation and other key environmental benefits to regional Australia. Despite their different backgrounds, DC, Keith and Ron shared a vision: to make high quality essential oil using sustainable and responsible wood for societal, cultural and environmental benefits whilst offering a consistent and credible long-term supply of sandalwood oil that has not been seen before in the WA sandalwood oil industry. So, in 2017, Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils was born and operates today with all the strength and intent of its founders.