Using Bush Plants - July 2009

On a wet and wild day in late July, we went with a homeschooling group on a guided tour in the Australian National Botanic Gardens.  Unfortunately, I must have left my camera behind (though I was sure I had photos…)

Well, why were we here?  We were looking at:

Aboriginal Plant Use and Technology

 

For example, did you know that :

The wood of Blackwood, being very hard and close-grained, was used in Victoria for spear-throwers and shields; the bark was infused in water to bathe rheumatic joints, and the inner bark was used to make string. 

There are over 1,000 different wattle species in Australia, and many of them were used by the Aborigines. In many areas wattle gum was an important food as well as a cement. Wattle seed is high in protein and carbohydrate and was eaten both green and dry in the arid areas. The Tasmanians ate the green seed and pods of Coast Wattle, Acacia sophorae, and Varnish Wattle, Acacia verniciflua, and wattle blossom was hung in their huts to promote sleep.

Then there’s the Bunyia Pine:

These nuts were such a popular food that tribes came from hundreds of kilometres around the Bunya Mountains in southern Queensland to feast on them.

Particular trees were considered to be the property of certain Aboriginal families, but everyone was invited to share the delicious nuts, which are not unlike chestnuts when roasted in the fire.

Although found only in Queensland, Bunya Pines have been planted in the southern States, and the nuts may sometimes be bought in Sydney markets. They can be boiled or roasted.

Lastly, I’ll mention the Banksia:
The flower-cones were soaked in water in bark or wooden containers to extract the nectar to make sweet drinks. Early settlers called banksias ‘honeysuckles’. Some banksias, such as the local Silver Banksia, Banksia marginata, retain the dry flowers on the cones, and Victorian Aborigines used these as strainers for drinking water.  (All information taken from the ANBG website)

We looked at many examples of Aboriginal use of plants from weapons, to musical instruments, toys and how plants were used for food and medicinal purposes.  Our guides divided us into two groups and took us exploring through the Gardens to find various plants as well.

Everyone was well prepared for this excursion with the fantastic resources available on the website and a full colour guide published by the Canberra Timesnewspaper.  These resources are still readily available if you go to http://www.anbg.gov.au/anbg/aboriginal-trail.html

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit, though it was a little too wet and soggy to have a picnic lunch afterwards!

Posted on on July 22nd, 2009