Thursday Plantation
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"Back in 1978, Christopher Dean, an Honours Graduate in Social Anthropology and a NSW Government Welfare Officer, was trekking overland through Africa with a group of Australians. Somewhere on this crazy adventure, Christopher contracted a severe infection in his toenail. The infection was regarded as incurable... "
After 5 months of trying to get rid of this infection using all of the knowledge of pharmacists and doctors as well as folk medicine and witch doctor recipes from around the world, Christopher arrived at the end of his overland trek in London.
Christopher consulted a leading specialist and was advised, after taking swabs, that the infection was regarded as incurable by the London School of Tropical Medicine. He was told that the only known treatment would be to have a general anaesthetic and have the toenails removed surgically and the epithelium (the top skin) scraped to physically remove the infected tissue. There was a serious risk of permanently losing the toenails if the condition was not surgically treated.
This would be followed by a severe caustic preparation to attempt to inhibit any regrowth. Recurrence was a very real possibility. Help arrived from Australia.
It was at this time that he met up with his brother Michael Dean, who had recently arrived from Australia on a business trip. Michael brought with him a curiosity produced by their step-father, Mr Eric White, from the magical wetlands of Northern New South Wales, Australia. Michael had brought some precious drops of Australian Tea Tree Oil, an oil renowned through folklore and from original medicine and early scientific discoveries, as an outstanding healing oil.
Within ten minutes of applying the oil his brother brought, the intense itching and agonising pain which had caused bleeding all around the feet started to lessen. Within 4 hours the swelling of the toes and the redness had subsided to a near normal colour. Within 4 days there was a total remission of all symptoms and the feet were completely healed. Christopher realised his step-father had an extraordinary product on his hands.
Eric was the first to hone in on the genetic location of the very best source of Tea Trees in the world. In the Bungawalbyn basin of Northern New South Wales, he located an extraordinary grove of the mother trees and after 4 years of pleading with the New South Wales Crown Lands Department he was granted a lease on which to cultivate the first ever scientifically developed plantation of Tea Tree.
The year was 1976 and the day the lease was granted was a Thursday. Thursday Plantation was born.
By 1986, Christopher had confirmed the place of Thursday Plantation as the leading research company on the Tea Tree Oil market. He set off on a world-wide trip crusading to create an awareness of Tea Tree Oil around the world.
The oil was delivered to Los Angeles, Vancouver, Dallas, London and on through Sweden, France, Italy, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand. Within a few short years, 20 countries had come to learn of the remarkable properties of Australian Tea Tree Oil.
In February 2001 Thursday Plantation took over Australia's pioneer in liquid herbal extracts, Greenridge Botanicals. We added Bekunis, Nature's Remedy and Veromax into our range of natural medicine. Drug free pain relief, clinically proven sexual performance enhancement, and a wide range of effective herbal preparations to assist in treating mild depression, liver toxicity, weak eyes, gastric problems, and many other common ailments now join Tea Tree Oil as credible scientifically proven aids to wellbeing and good health.
In 2003 our Corporate name changed to TP Health Ltd to reflect the growing diversity of products now manufactured under the brands: Thursday Plantation, Greenridge, Bekunis, Vermomax and Nature's Remedy.
In 2004, TP Health acquired Sunspirit Oils, Australia’s oldest and most widely distributed aromatherapy range of essential oils, focused on therapeutic benefits from the beginning.
Today Thursday Plantation is both the brand for essential oil products and our original home in Ballina, Northern NSW; a place where visitors are encouraged to discover the magic of natural therapies in a rainforest garden with Australia’s finest regional sculpture park and the splendid “Spirit of Australia Maze”.
