Stylo Station transformed into Indian sandalwood plantation by Tropical Forestry Services
NT Country Hour
By Daniel Fitzgerald
Stylo Station on the outskirts of Mataranka has been transformed over the past few months by Indian sandalwood company Tropical Forestry Services (TFS).
The company bought the property, 370km south-east of Darwin, in December from the MacFarlane family, with a controversial 5.8 gigalitre water licence attached to the sale.
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TFS is the world's largest producer of Indian sandalwood, with about 12,000 hectares expected to be planted by the end of 2016, much of which is in the Northern Territory.
The company received approval to clear land on Stylo Station in March, with about 800 hectares cleared since.
TFS operations investment relations manager Malcolm Baker said installation of irrigation on the property was in full swing.
"Within the next few weeks we will have 500 hectares of irrigation installed, and we are hoping within about three to four weeks we will get to a point where we are putting trees in the ground," Mr Baker said.
"This year we are hoping to put in around 500 hectares, which is around 250,000 Indian sandalwood trees.
"The planting crews, once they start, move pretty quickly. They average about 25 to 30 hectares per day, so they should get [the planting] done in under three weeks."
Six production bores have been drilled on the property, pumping about 70 to 100 litres per second. PHOTO: Workers construct one of six bores at TFS's Stylo Station property at Mataranka. (ABC Rural: Daniel Fitzgerald)
About 30 people are working on the development of the property, with a mixture of contractors and TFS employees.
"We have the trenching contractors putting the pipe into the ground, we have the irrigation installers, we also have the land development guys," Mr Baker said.
"A number of them are local contractors. We have the guys here on the dozers, we have a lot of the machinery supplied through local contractors.
"We have also got two Mataranka locals on staff, so there is a fair bit of local engagement with the project."
Once the development is completed, 20 to 30 casual staff are expected to work on the plantation, depending on the season.
Mataranka local Tim Alford, who began working for TFS six weeks ago, said opinion about TFS around the town had been fairly positive.
"TFS is employing local people from Mataranka. It is spending money at local businesses," Mr Alford said.
"We are in the development stage at the moment, but once it becomes an up-and-running sandalwood farm I can see more jobs coming to the area, employing more locals, hopefully bringing more families to the town.
"Since I have been [in Mataranka] this would be the biggest [development] around this area I have seen." PHOTO: Mataranka local Tim Alford says local opinions about TFS are fairly positive. (ABC Rural: Daniel Fitzgerald)
Water vital to TFS's expansion
Country Liberals candidate for Lingiari, and former owner of Stylo Station, Tina MacFarlane has defended the sale to TFS and has denied financially benefiting from the water licence.
Mr Baker said access to water was vital for TFS's development of a property.
"All of our estates have water licences associated with them, so there is nothing unusual about the fact that we purchased this with a water licence," he said.
"In terms of the way we value the property, properties are always valued on how much land you can use, and the amount of land used is determined by the amount of water on it.
"We have to either have the ability to buy a property that has existing water licences, or it has to have the ability for us to apply and gain a water licence for it.
"We don't do dryland farming, so we have to have water."
Despite concerns about the ability to draw enough water from bores at Stylo Station, Mr Baker said water availability had "turned out quite well". PHOTO: About 800 hectares has been cleared at Stylo Station since March. (ABC Rural: Daniel Fitzgerald)
PHOTO: Workers construct one of six bores at TFS's Stylo Station property at Mataranka. (ABC Rural: Daniel Fitzgerald)
PHOTO: Mataranka local Tim Alford says local opinions about TFS are fairly positive. (ABC Rural: Daniel Fitzgerald)
PHOTO: About 800 hectares has been cleared at Stylo Station since March. (ABC Rural: Daniel Fitzgerald)
