Phillip Kennedy was born in the Bega Valley where his family has lived since the 1850s, but at the age of two his family moved to Camden where he grew up.
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“While I grew up in Camden my visits to relatives in Bega were always a highlight and I seem to have the country in my blood,” he said.
Mr Kennedy said he led a stressful life working in Corporate IT managing large teams in big organisations like Optus, Sydney Water and Sydney Trains.
“It was about four years ago that I got to the point that I was desperate to find a little piece of country for me and my partner.
“Scott and I stumbled across a 150 acre property in Bombala and once I saw it, I fell in love and we bought it that day,” he said.
After spending a few weekends there, Phillip got to know his neighbours, Roger Morgan-Bruce and his son Jamie who had both mentioned to him that the property used to be farmed for the oil content of the Peppermint Gum many years before.
They told him there were two species of Eucalypt on the property that both had the highest oil contents of all the eucalyptus.
“I was desperate to retire from corporate life and started to research. That’s when I discovered that what used to be discarded waste, is now known as hydrosol that has the same chemical makeup as the oil, just not as high density thus making it perfect for home, bath and body products.
“That’s when I purchased my first still and Guyedy Hydrosols was born.”
Mr Kennedy usually distills the leaves on his Bombala property, but he makes the products from the oil and the hydrosols at his home in Millingandi.
“The Peppermint Gum has the same anti bacterial and antiseptic properties as other gums.”
