Hope someone might know the answer to this question..... When we go to Chiang Mai, we are interested in going to the town that makes the umbrella's. I have read that they are made from the bark of the mulberry tree and I am wondering if these will pass Australian customs? Anyone.....

I wouldn't think so. The reason being, we are in the middle of assessing what we are going to take home when we finish up here in the Middle East. The removal agent says that all our varnished, normal wooden furniture ... no problems bringing back to Aus, but anything that is not treated, or raw is a problem.
When we went back to Australia from Saudi, we had our fake trees taken from us. The actual stem was made from wood. We could pay $200 to have it treated, or it would be destroyed. We had it destroyed.
We also had to pay for a box of shoes to be treated.
They are very strict. Which is fair enough, I don't have a problem with that.
You could take the chance and buy it, but you must declare it ... and be prepared that it could be confiscated.
Sometimes a personal inspection of the item is all that is needed and you could be lucky enough to pass.

Thanks for that advice Denise. Its just that I have seen those umbrellas/fans advertised on EBAY saying they come from Chiang Mai. They do look great and would look even better on my wall or at my house.

Last trip we put all our wooden stuff and anything we thought that might need inspecting in one suitcase and declared it. They did take a bit of stationary and paper that they told us was made out of elephant dung...who would imagine!! Also took some pencils that were made from bark. My sister brought a wooden motorcycle as a gift and had to have this treated ($60) and they put in the pencils for us for free and returned them with the motorbike.

Might be a question to email customs about. Better safe than sorry...

Thanks
Karin