Tapping Rubber Sap in Bogor, 1938

Photo: Wijnand Elbert Kerkhoff/National Gallery of Australia

Rubber is a plant that is unique in its use. If other plants can be used for their fruit, stems, or leaves, the rubber used is the sap. Rubber sap is a unique and valuable material that underpins the tire industry which is critical to the transportation sector.

Rubber plantations in Indonesia are one of the heritage plantations of the Dutch East Indies that used to develop along with the development of the automotive industry. Today, Indonesia is one of the largest rubber exporters in the world.

The photo above shows two workers tapping rubber latex in what is now the Bogor Botanical Gardens circa 1938. This photo was taken by Wijnand Elbert Kerkhoff and the archive is kept by the National Gallery of Australia.