Australia has a strong record in food and agriculture. The wine industry has been the most recent to experience the impact of Australia's great natural assets, clean environment and integrity. It was only a matter of time before Australia entered the large and traditional olive oil market.

The Olea Story began in the mid 1990's when it became evident that the world was facing a renewed boom in the demand for high quality extra virgin olive oil. This was around the time that traditional European producers faced a major production slump due to cyclical bad weather conditions. At this time Gus Simpson, former executive chairman of Olea, and Ian Middlemas, former director, identified the growing gap between demand for high quality extra virgin olive oil and supply from traditional producers.

Over the next few years information was gathered and plans were drawn up for a large scale olive project. Specific attention was paid to selecting quality land in the pristine Moore River Region and significant research went into the technological aspects of the grove. It was intended right from the outset that the Olea grove establish a new benchmark for the use of technology to maximize production quality and efficiency.

Yates Limited, a 100 year old icon of Australian agriculture, joined the group as it's major shareholder and provided support in attracting investment funding. Over $10M was raised through prospectus offerings in 2000 and 2001. Establishment work at the company's Dandaragan plantation was completed in 2001.

Today Olea Australis Limited is Australia's only sole purpose olive-dedicated listed company.