Kangaroo Island Narrow-leaf Mallee

Eucalyptus cneorifolia is the tree behind the old Kangaroo Island eucalyptus oil trade, a cottage industry that grew up along the island's coast in the 1880s. Bush workers, known locally as mallee men, hand cut the wiry narrow leaves and fed them into portable wood-fired stills set up right in the scrub, filling tins of oil that were shipped off to pharmacies and general stores across Australia and beyond. In the home, that oil found its way into steam basins for stuffy colds, into rubs for aching chests and sore muscles, and into the wash water as a sharp, clean-smelling disinfectant. It became one of the trusted household standbys of colonial Australian life, valued for its high cineole content and its no-nonsense, medicinal aroma.