Courtesy of Trove Kyogle Examiner 7 December 1928
Essential Oil Industry.
FIRST UNIT AT WORK.
Mr. Hugh James, the prime mover in the establishment of the essential oil industry on the Richmond, has had a busy week installing the first unit at Neilly’s Lagoon, Upper Bungawalbin, some 12½ miles from Coraki. He had the satisfaction of bringing to Coraki on Saturday afternoon the first drum containing the new oil, melol. A representative of the “R.R. Herald” visited the scene of operations early on Saturday afternoon, and saw the plant at work. The site is a most picturesque one — right on the edge of the reed and tree-fringed lagoon, on the forest reserve between Mr. L. F. Benaud’s farm and old Bungawalbin station. The lagoon is quite a large sheet of water, reputedly 40ft. deep in places, and affording every possible facility for the operation of a distilling plant. The plant itself consists of two 400 agll. iron tanks, squares type, placed close together on stone foundations, with ample room for the firing of each. Into each tank is placed six to eight inches of water, and above that comes a bed of light saplings, thinly spaced, and some fine mesh wire on which rest the leaves of the ti-tree. When all the leaves are securely packed in, the big square lid of the tank is pressed down on the clay packing on top of the tank, weighted and secured in position, the tank thus being made airtight. The fire is then lighted, and the oil virtually steamed out of the ti-tree. From near the top of each tank a steam pipe runs to an union, whence the steam is carried to the condenser in an open puddle tank filled with water pumped from the lagoon. The cool water condenses the steam, and the resultant oil and water fall from an outlet pipe into a drum placed alongside the clay tank. The oil is skimmed from the surface, placed in drums, and then sent to Sydney to be filtered and marketed. The operation seems to be a very simple one, but the preparation of the necessary plant has taken considerable time and thought. The additional plants, however, should be installed with less trouble, following the experience at Neilly’s Lagoon.
Altogether it takes about 3¾ hours to distill the oil from a tank full of the mellaluca, and an ingenious device, in the shape of a conveniently placed drum, attached to each iron tank, enables the operators to keep these tanks with their requisite 6 to 8 inches of water all through the process of distillation. Messrs. J. S. Newby and J. Selkirk have been associated with Mr. James in the work of last week, and will keep the plant going now, while Mr. James proceeds to Moonem to install the second unit on Mr. L. B. William’s property just beyond the coal mine. Forestry officers last week discovered another big belt of mellaleuca on Bungawalbin, which Mr. James intends to inspect before leaving for Sydney. It is rather a strange concidence that stands of mellaleuca are invariably hedged round by a belt of prickly ti-tree, which makes the desired trees comparatively easy to locate. Also the little trees only grow in low or swampy country. So far it has not been determined whether the mellaleuca yields better in wet than in dry weather, but Mr. James is inclined to the belief that the difference if any will be slight.
Farming & Industry
