Wildwood essences chemical free skin care products Fortunately for the Australian community, a few small companies like Wildwood Essences are committed to propagating and rekindling an interest in alternate and often close to extinct native Australian oil producing species.

Mike Sheppard and his wife Adrienne became interested in essential oils 20 years ago when they established an Australian native plant nursery in the Byron Bay Hinterland. Previously, Mike was employed on overseas postings as a Chief Design Engineer and during this time he witnessed the detrimental and harmful side effects caused to employees as a consequence of some the chemicals they were exposed to on a daily basis.

Seven or eight years ago both Mike and Adrienne developed a compelling interest in bush food plants, and following a course on plant selection and chemistry, Mike bought a small steam distillation unit and began concentrating on collecting high yielding varieties of Lemon Myrtle, Paperbark and Tea - Tree species.
Mike made his own larger steam distillation unit both Mike and Adrienne were hooked, it was becoming serious..... a passion had been ignited. It was then they heard about Strawberry Gum. Did it grow strawberries? It wasn't listed in any of the books.
A series of coincidences led Mike to the Timbarra Plateau, that was the easy part! The next step was to get a collector's licence to gather seeds from the Forestry Department. After much exploration of the Plateau the Strawberry Gums were finally found, during a coffee break, a sweet smell on the breeze wafted through the camp, they left their coffee and walking upwind they found the objects of their quest ...........a row of eighteen Strawberry Gums. From the seed of those trees Wildwood Essences now have over 2000 Strawberry Gums, the oil is exquisite and at this stage the supply is quite limited.

Today in 2004, Wildwood Essences numerous integrated oil plantings include a range of hardy Australian natives; Eucalypts including Lemon Ironbark, Strawberry, Peppermint and Lemon Scented Gum; Melaleucas including Cajeput and Tea - Tree; Leptospermums including Rose and Olive Tea Tree through to the rainforest species; Backhousias such as Lemon and Aniseed Myrtle.

We hope you will indulge and experience these beautiful oils with the awareness that you are helping to encourage propagation of Australia's rare native plants and stimulatiously protect our environment from chemicals.
We trust you enjoy both the unique therapeutic and aromatic benefits that the oils provide within the entire chemical free Wildwood Essences range of personal care products designed to clean, nourish, and replenish the body, mind and spirit of you and your family.