Abstract :
Tropical hardwood tree improvement began in northern Australia in the 1980s and focused on the conservation and breeding of native and exotic timber species. Resourced by commonwealth (CSIRO and AusAid) and/or state government agencies (Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia), these programmes included extensive initial seed collection for a diverse range of provenances and the establishment of species trials, provenance conservation facilities and commercial seed orchards. A number of these programmes subsequently became significant sources of germplasm of several tropical Acacia, Eucalyptus and other species for industrial tree planting programmes in Asia and elsewhere (Harwood 2005, 2011). Hardwood plantations of these species now cover several million hectares in China, southern India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and are the bases of flourishing forest products industries. In northern Australia, tree improvement programmes have also helped facilitate commercial plantations of Eucalyptus pellita in north Queensland, Khaya senegalensis (African mahogany) in the Northern Territor y and Santalum album in Western Australia.
