JULY SPEAKERS REPORT: AUSTRALIAN BUSH FOODS

Kemp Killerby from Fauna4Flora gave a very interesting talk on Australian Bush Foods. He began with an overview including history, types of vegetation, benefits and cultivation and included many anecdotes to illustrate his points.

There are approximately 6,500 native Australian bush foods and there is increasing interest in their further cultivation and use. The native foods industry is growing and there are many benefits which include:

*Increasing biodiversity

*Our fauna thrives better with more natural vegetation. 70% of birds have a preference for native plants.

*The plants have evolved with the drought/flood cycle which is our normal climate so are more likely to

   survive. They are pollinated by a wide range of insects and are more likely to be pest resistant.

*Some of these plants are becoming good cash crops e.g. mulga. Many native crops do not require a great

   deal in the way of high-tech farming or heavy machinery compacting the soil e.g. wattleseed.

*Food security.

*Local produce (low food miles) although there is also a growing export potential.

*Healthwise we benefit from fresh, highly nutritious food.

The following is a list of bush foods that Kemp spoke about which can be found in the greater Toowoomba region. ‘Greater’ is a vague description, my write-up concentrates on importance to wildlife, aboriginal use and current use and not on plant descriptions.

·      Bunya pine Araucaria bidwillii nuts, which resemble chestnuts, are eaten by sulphur crested cockatoos and bush rats. The nuts are protein rich and a highly nutritional, traditional food for aboriginal people who also ate the young shoots. Flour made from the nuts is gluten free. The timber is valuable for furniture making, and also guitars.

·      Gundabluie/Bardi Bush Acacia victoriae seeds and foliage are eaten by small animals and birds.  The seeds are a traditional bushfood ground for flour and now can be used as a caffeine free coffee substitute.  The plant is good for nitrogen fixing and soil stabilisation. Medical properties continue to be researched, especially for cancer.

·      Illawarra plum Podocarpus elatus is bird and bee attracting and a host plant for quite a number of butterflies.  The fruit was considered one of the best by indigenous peoples and early settlers – and currawongs. It has a high Vitamin C content, seven times more than blueberries. The fruit has two segments, a hard-inedible seed and large, fleshy purple-black berry which may be eaten raw or made into jams and jellies.

·      Native ginger Alpinia caerulea is an evergreen attractive to insects and a haven for the green tree frog.  It is an excellent plant to grow close to ponds. Traditionally it was used for medicine, food and crafts.  Roots were used as a bush medicine to relieve congestion and for nausea and the fruits can be chewed to moisten the mouth while bush walking. It is used as a spice and for herbal tea.  In the wild this plant is found in rainforest under-storeys and is one of the dry rainforest plants that can be planted as a firebreak because the ignition point of the leaves is about 400C and they burn to dust.

·      Native rosella Hibiscus heterophyllus is an excellent plant for attracting wildlife. Nectar feeding birds like honeyeaters are attracted to the flowers, as are insects which in turn attract insect eating birds. The seeds are eaten by other birds like lorikeets. Hibiscus harlequin bugs suck sap from the young leaves. Traditionally, as well as a food source (all parts are edible), the bark was used to make rope and string. The rosellas that we make into jam are not native to Australia but are Hibiscus sabdariffa, the fleshy calyx of which is used in the jam making process.

·      Riberry Syzygium luehmannii (not endemic to this region but there are other Syzygiums) attracts birds, fruit eating animals and native bees. The cinnamon tasting fruit can be eaten raw and is also commonly used for making jams, syrup and confectionary.

·      Long yam Dioscorea transversa is a host plant for the black and white skipper butterfly and hawk moth. Traditionally the tuber could be roasted or eaten raw and among the medicinal uses some indigenous people used a decoction to apply topically to skin cancers.

·      Native tamarind Diploglottis australis attracts many fruit eating birds (doves, pigeons, green catbird, figbirds, bower birds, crimson rosellas, brush turkeys etc), flying foxes and native bees. The Pale Green Triangle butterfly Graphium eurypylus sips nectar from the fruit and the tamarind is a host plant for the Bright Cornelian butterfly Deudorix diovis. The aborigines valued the fruit and it has a lot of food uses – eaten raw or in jams, chutneys, refreshing drinks etc. It is also a fire-retardant shade tree.

·      Peanut tree Stercula quadrifida has black seeds, high in protein, traditionally eaten raw or roasted (once the paper-like skin is removed). The leaves and bark were used as a bush medicine to treat wounds, eye complaints, bites and stings. The bark was used for baskets, weaving and twine. 

·      Round lime/Dooja/Gympie round lime Citrus australis is a host plant for a number of swallowtail butterfly species. The fruit has a very intense flavour, a high vitamin C content, and many uses in the kitchen

Further reading:

Wild Food Plants of Australia by Tim Low (easy to read)

Grow Your Own Bushfood by Keith and Irene Smith

The Oldest Foods on Earth – A History of Australian Native Foods with recipes by John Newton

Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident by Bruce Pascoe (an Indigenous writer from the Bunurong

clan, of the Kulin nation)

Australian Bush Superfoods by Lily Alice and Thomas O’Quinn (good explanations)

Bush Tucker Guide – Identify Australian plants and animals and learn how to cook with them - Samantha Martin