French perfumer & Binalup Aboriginal Corporation to spread Great Southern scents global

The smells of the Great Southern could soon be spreading worldwide thanks to a new partnership between a world-renowned French perfumer and the Binalup Aboriginal Corporation.

Last week, BAC chief executive Shawn Colbung and his team met with Behave founder Stephane Piquart to see how the perfumer might transfer his skills to the corporation’s workforce.

Mr Piquart is no stranger to the region having first worked with Steve Birkbeck three decades ago in the early days of Mt Romance.

In the early 2000s, he helped develop the Sandalwood fragrance and started work on the Fire Tree fragrance, made from grass trees that are harvested sustainably and with respect to their cultural significance.

Then in 2007, Mr Piquart founded Behave backed by an ethos of humility and respect and continued his work on the Fire Tree fragrance.

“In life, it’s always a balance between ‘to be’ and ‘to have’,” Mr Piquart said.

“To have this English word ‘behave’ is very interesting for me because to behave with the environment and to behave with the people — you have to respect the culture.”

Behave already has a well-established working relationship with WA’s central desert Indigenous people through Dutjhan Sandalwood Oils and works with indigenous people in Peru and Namibia.

Mr Piquart describes himself as travelling the world “like Indiana Jones looking for new partnerships”.

“Always my heart comes back to sandalwood and to this country,” he said.

“It’s a journey for me to start with Fire Tree now with Shawn and with his organisation.

“My work now is to help them to develop new oils, new potential treasures for perfume and it’s always done in a way that we will respect people and respect the environment.”

It’s a journey for me to start with Fire Tree now with Shawn and with his organisation. My work now is to help them to develop new oils, new potential treasures for perfume...

The opportunity to work with Mr Piquart on perfumes came out of BAC’s mutual connection Mr Birkbeck — a result of the corporation’s focus on building respectful relationships with good people, Mr Colbung said.

“Steve is an awesome person who attracts awesome people and the ripple effect rolls on,” he said.

He said the opportunity to learn from Mr Piquart and break into the perfume industry would give BAC a new source of income.

“Instead of relying on grants constantly, it is another avenue for money to flow into the BAC so that we can help employ more Noongar people,” he said.

“The Aboriginal ranger programs give Noongar people the chance to go out and find opportunities like this.”

The first perfume containing Fire Tree oil will soon be launched.

Mr Piquart said the grass tree, also known as the balga or barlock tree, added a rich long-lasting scent to perfume partly due to its ability to withstand bushfire.

“When you first smell the leaves of this produce, you smell the rosy notes, the leachy notes and then after the smokey notes from the fire,” he said.

“It’s a long-lasting ingredient and perfumers are always looking for something new and original, but also something that keeps well on the skin.”

The Aboriginal ranger programs give Noongar people the chance to go out and find opportunities like this.

Mr Colbung said when BAC was established in 2021, he had no way of knowing it would lead to partnering with someone like Mr Piquart just three years later.

“We really do welcome these sorts of partnerships and collaborations,” he said.

“It just helps Binalup create that other avenue for funding.

“From the first time we met him, he’s been nothing but respectful and that is the best way to move forward to build better relationships together, by having that respect at the base level and being able to build on that.”