Connections Between Health & A Tea Tree

We have all heard of the famous British explorer captain Cook. In 1770 captain Cook landed Botany Bay near the site that eventually would become known as Sydney, Australia. During this period of discovery he came across the "Healing ground" area which was named by the aborigines, it was an area filled with trees. Cook observed the aborigines as they applied crushed leaves, gathered from these trees, to open wounds. They also brewed tea from those same leaves which Cook found spicy and refreshing and it was he who gave the Melaleuca Alternifolia tree its common name "The tea tree".

Captain Cook and his crew would later on take samples of the tea tree back to England for further study but nothing ever became of those studies and as a result the medical properties of the Melaleuca Alternifolia remained undiscovered to those outside of Australia.

Dr Dennis Considen, who was a surgeon recognized the medical properties of the tea tree but due to lack of training and equipment the powerful potential of the oil remained dormant for the next 150 years. In 1923 Dr.A. Penfold, an Australian chemist studied the tea tree oil in depth after distilling it and found that it had significant antiseptic as well as bactericidal properties. He presented his findings in 1925 to the Royal Society of new South Wales and England, you can find the first medical reference to the qualities of tea tree oil in the medical journal of Australia 1930.

When World War 2 broke out the melaleuca oil was an essential part of every Australian first aid kit as they fully recognized the many medical qualities that lie within it.