At Melbourne Walks, we are perpetually harvesting wild Indigenous food, medicine, tools and other resources from our local Melbourne environment using the Indigenous seasons.
We encourage the growing of native food and medicine plants as a wonderful asset for home gardens, schools, recreational spaces and workplaces. These are easily grown, drought resistant and provide habitat for wildlife.
This is an information page only (see below).
However, for those interested, we do provide a tour in Albert Park Reserve which explores harvesting and identification of ‘bushtucker’ i.e. our Living Wild off the Land Tour.
LIST OF MELBOURNE BUSHTUCKER FAUNA AND FLORA:
Murumbal or Blueberry Lily/Flax Lily – Dianella: Purple berries have a sweet flavour, which becomes nuttyonce seeds are chewed. Leaf fibres were used to make strong string and baskets.Ti-tree –Melaleuca: – Oil is used for disinfectant, sanitiser, insect repellent, infection, acne, nail fungus, skin inflammation, athlete’s foot, dandruff.
Kino for burns.
Hop Goodenia –Goodenia ovata: An infusion of leaves and twigs has possible anti-diabetic properties. Indigneous mothers infused leaves for their babies to encourage sleep.
Hop Bush –Dodonaea viscosa: Used by European settlers as “hops” in beer making. Aboriginal people used parts of the plant as a local anesthetic, chewed the leaves to relieve tooth-ache and bound them to skin to treat stings.
Mookitch or Kangaroo Apple – Solanum lanciniatum: A tall shrub with leaves resembling a kangaroo paw with purple flowers and fruits changing from yellow/green to orange when ripe. An important food for Aboriginal people when eaten completely ripe. Sometimes placed in sand to ripen. Farmed in the Soviet Union to extract an alkaloid for oral contraceptives. Same genus as the potato, tomato, and eggplant.
Billabongs: Common reed, Cumbungee, knobby club rush, tubers, tortoises, eels, bluetongue, aquaculture, fish stunning.
Taark or Common Reed- Phragmites: Edible roots. Edible young shoots. Necklaces/beads. Spearshafts. Snorkels. Septum decoration. Weaving bags, baskets.
Native bees: Sugarbag/honey
Katwort or Pigface: Burns and stings. Water supply. Antioxidant. Water supply. Fruit (salty strawberry). Groundcover. Bluetongue habitat.
Warrigal Greens/Botany Bay Spinach: Spinach, pesto, scurvy, vitamin C, anti-oxidant. Early food and scurvy cure of Captain Cook.
Eucalyptus oil: Confectionary, disinfectant, wool wash, cold relief – coughs, chest etc, joint pain, insects. Oil is the first Industry in Australia made in Botany Bay 1788.
Kangaroo/Wallaby Grass –Themedatriandra. A perennial grass forming dense masses, one of Australia’s most widespread grasses. In summer, Indigenous people gather seeds and grind them into flour which, when mixed with water, was cooked to make damper. Dense clusters of shiny bright brown spikelets form on wiry stems which were used to make twine for fishing nets. Tussocks recover vigorously after fire and this grass was a staple food of kangaroos on the basalt plains.
Lemon myrtle: Antioxidant. Antiseptic. Mosquitos. Anti-inflammatory. Tea. Very popular lemon food flavouring. Coughs, Perfume. Soap.
Munyeroo or Purslane: A ‘super food’ eaten raw for salads or sautéed, It contains very high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. It can be eaten in salad, stir-fried, or cooked like spinach. It can be applied topically to relieve sores and insect bites on the skin.
Moreton Bay Fig or Banyan Tree: Fig fruit is edible, also used for jam. Fibre is used for nets. Fruit attracts flying foxes in Albert Park Reserve.
Bunya pines: nuts
Wagnarra or messmate: Tools, clap sticks.
Lemon Gum: Tanderrum welcome to country. Smoking ceremonies. Citronella – mosquitos, candles.
Lilly Pilly: Fruit is used to make jam and is beneficial for colds and flu. It has astringent properties and is utilized in anti-aging skin care.
Paperbark Tree – Melaleuca: This tree has about 300 species. The nectar from the flowers is edible, while the bark (wilam) is used for making rugs, bandages, mattresses, roofs, cooking, nappies, letter writing, and thatching. Oil from the leaves is used to treat coughs, colds, and can be made into tea. The wood is used for crafting spears and digging sticks.
Matrush or Basket Grass – Lomandra: This plant is used to make nets, baskets, and decorations. Its nuts are edible, and it is also used to make salad, sugar, and edible flowers.
Birrna or Coast Banksia Tree: The flowers are used as a filter and to soothe sore throats. They can also be used to make a fermented drink. Additionally, the flowers are used to create candles, combs, torches for fishing, pipe cleaners, and cotton buds.
Coastal Saltbush: Popular among chefs as a flavoring for meat, such as in saltbush lamb and chips. It also serves as a habitat for the blue wren and can be used in soups.
Easip or Yellow Gum/Red Flowered Gum: The nectar of this plant is edible.
Kabin or Kennedia: This plant is used for making twine and the nectar is also edible.
Burgan or White Tea Tree: This plant is used for treating coughs and colds and signals the presence of snapper.
Burgil Burgil/Honeypots: The flower nectar is edible.
Seaberry Saltbush: Used as a dye and in cosmetic lipstick.
Seablight: Employed as a garnish, in salads, and as a pickled vegetable.
Lerp: Used as a sugar substitute.
Cicadas: Eaten and sometimes referred to as land shrimp. They are a seasonal trigger for the high summer season.
Spider Web: Used as a coagulant.
Wayetuck – Black She-oak – Allocasuarina littoralis: The cones are used for fishing, and the wood is important for making implements such as boomerangs, shields, and clubs. A boomerang from the Drooping She-oak was found in South Australia and is believed to be 10,000 years old. The mat of fallen needle-like foliage is considered a safe place to leave children as snakes are said to avoid these areas. The wood is also highly valued as fuel for bakers’ ovens.
Kabin or Running Postman – Kennedia prostrata: Aboriginal people would suck the sweet nectar from the flowers and use the stems as twine.
Nepturne’s Beads: Edible seaweed, pickled by early settlers.
Sea Parsley (Sea Celery): Found along the southern coastline of Australia, this plant has shiny dark green parsley-like leaves. Its appearance and dimensions vary from place to place.
Charcoal: Used for treating poisoning and stomach illnesses.
Ochre: Used in ceremonies, as paint, and for treating wounds.
Warrarak or Wattle: There are about 1,000 species of wattles out of the world’s 1,350 species. Wattle seeds provide protein and carbohydrates. They were crushed into flour and cooked into damper, or eaten after baking in hot coals. Wattleseed is rich in potassium, calcium, iron, and zinc, and has a low glycemic index, making it suitable for diabetics. It is often roasted for use in cakes, bread, muffins, and as a coffee substitute.
Wattle Gum: This highly nutritious gum, gathered from wattle trees, can be stored for long periods. When mixed with lime (such as ash), it is used as an adhesive to connect stone, wood, and string. Gum can be dissolved in water to make a mildly sweet drink and mixed with ash for use as resin.
Wattle Bark: Used for tanning and to find grubs.
Muyan or Silver Wattle – Acacia dealbata: The wattle blossoms cover the Yarra River and are consumed by eels that feed on a specific grub found in the flowers. The plant symbolizes Elders and is used in tanderrum ceremonies. Every part of the wattle is used – blossoms, gum, seed, bark, and wood. The gum can be dissolved in water to make a mildly sweet drink or mixed with ash for resin.
Burnalook or Blackwood – Acacia melanoxylon: The fiber of this plant is used for fishing lines. Its leaves are used for dyeing materials, and an infusion of the bark treats rheumatism. The bark also has tanning properties, while the hardwood is used for making clubs, spear throwers, boomerangs, shields, and more recently, fine furniture.
Harvesting Tools:
Shells: Used for cutting and cleaning skins.
Bone Awls: Used to pierce hides for sewing, using sinews from a kangaroo tail.
Stone: Certain kinds are collected and chipped to make a variety of implements for cutting, weapons, and cooking.
Flint: Exchanged by barter for tools to make microliths through knapping.
Greenstone: High-quality axes are traded from Mt William Quarry in Lancefield with permission from Ngurungaeta/Chief Billibellary.
Grinding Stone: Used to sharpen axes at Yuro Yuroke – St Kilda Esplanade.
Wells: Supplying water at West Beach.
Coolamon: Wooden bowls used for water, cradles, and carrying produce, made from bark or gall/burl.
She-oak Cones: Used for fishing.
Baler Shells: Used for water.
Harvesting Animal Protein:
Common Long-necked Turtle – Chelodina longicollis: Turtles were caught and eaten, and their eggs collected from the edges of rivers and wetlands during spring.
Shellfish and Middens: Includes abalone, turbo, limpet, mud oyster, pippi, whelk, and mussel.
Freshwater Mussel: Consumed for protein.
Mutton Birds/Penguins: Fatty food source.
Brushtail Possums: Common in Catani Gardens, St Kilda, with species including Grey Brushtail and ringtail possums. They are caught, killed, gutted, skinned, and cooked in coals before being eaten. The skins are sewn together to make cloaks or rugs, and possum fur is used to make twine.
Fruit Bats or Grey-headed Flying Fox: Found in Albert Park Reserve feeding on fig trees. They are an appreciated food source for Aborigines and some colonists, usually roasted whole in coals with the wings removed. The flesh is noted for its excellent flavor, resembling chicken.
Ducks, Swans, Waterfowl: Commonly found on Albert Park Lake, where traditional owner campsites were recorded. Ducks were an important food source and were caught in various ways, often speared or brought down with boomerangs. Katherine Parker describes the trapping technique used by the Ualayai people of the Barwon River Wetlands in the 1890s. Ducks were also caught by stealth, involving a swimmer grabbing their feet and pulling them under water.
Bogong Moths: Rich in fat and protein.
Short-finned Eel – Anguilla australis: Caught using traps woven from mat rush. In freshwater, men muddy shallow water and feel for eels with their feet. Hand nets are used in salt water, and spears are sometimes employed. Fresh skins of eels are wrapped around joints for pain relief. Eels are nocturnal fish with a complex life cycle, migrating long distances to spawn and undergoing significant transformations during their lives.
Harvesting Edible Weeds:
Nettle: Despite its sting, young parts of the plant are edible when blanched or otherwise prepared. It is used as a nutritious tisane and in herbal medicine. Historically, it was grown for its fiber and used in cheese-making and dye.
Burdock: The root stimulates detoxification of the lymph and liver, known as a “blood purifier,” and has diuretic and diaphoretic properties.
Dandelion: The leaves serve as a tonic to the kidneys and do not deplete potassium, unlike other diuretics. The whole plant, especially the root, detoxifies the liver and acts as a digestive stimulant.
Shepard’s Purse: Used to stop bleeding.
Chickweed: Nutrient-dense and full of antioxidants. It is beneficial for skin conditions when infused into oil and can dissolve cysts and lumps.
Native Plantain, Ribwort, Pig’s Ear: Known for wound healing, it relieves pain, stops bleeding, draws out foreign matter, prevents allergic reactions, kills bacteria, and reduces swelling. The seed husks are used in psyllium laxatives.
Mallow: The whole plant is mucilaginous, soothing internally for sore throats, upset tummies, heartburn, irritable bowel, colic, and constipation, and externally for bug bites, burns, sprains, and sore eyes.
Nasturtium: All parts of this plant are edible, and it benefits crops around it while being used for salad decoration.
Ground Ivy: Used in traditional European medicine for inflammation of the eyes, tinnitus, as a diuretic, astringent, tonic, and gentle stimulant.
Further Information:
- Melbourne Museum Plant Information Sheet (online)
- Koori Plants Koori People by Beth Gott
- The Aboriginal Use of Plants of the Greater Melbourne Area by Maribyrnong
- A Guide to Indigenous Plants by Zena Cumpston, Melbourne University (online)
