Meaningful connections through native bush food plants

Meaningful connections through native bush food plants

Mandy Thomson, Team Leader Nursery, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Cranbourne Gardens

I would like to share with our readers a powerful connection that the Cranbourne GardensNursery volunteers and staff made with community at the recent NAIDOC (National Aboriginalsand Islanders Day Observance Committee) event hosted at the Australian Garden in Julythis year.

Nursery staff and volunteers ran a very popular activity with families involving potting-up tubesof Yam Daisies Microseris lanceolata and River Mint Mentha australis into biodegradable potsfor planting at home.

Nursery Volunteers had grown the plants from seed and cuttings many months before the eventand produced well over 1000 plants. They took great pride in teaching the younger generationhow to grow them on in their own gardens.

Sounds like a simple enough activity but the story behind these bush foods has rich historical and cultural meaning for Indigenous Australians, as explained below.

‘Yam Daisy is called Murrnong by the people living around Yarra and Geelong. It is a small dandelion-like herb once abundant over much of Victoria, but now relatively scarce due to grazing and compaction of the soil by introduced hard hoofed animals. Each day women and children would leave camp in search of these roots turning over a considerable amount of soil as they went. Records indicate that in a single day an Aboriginal woman might collect 2000 plants, or 8kg of tubers. The thinning of the daisies promoted vigorous growth in the remaining plants, and some plants were always left for the next season.

The River mint is a native mint with white flowers. It has a strong smell and is used for coughs and colds and sometimes as a food-flavouring lining for earth ovens.’

Source: Jaffa Richardson, Balee Koolin Bubup Bush Playgroup Coordinator, Cranbourne Gardens

The most rewarding experience was seeing the enthusiasm for the Yam Daisies. Many visitors had heard about the tubers and their use but did not know how to go about sourcing them. I’m happy to say that there will be many tubers harvested in vegetable gardens all over Victoria in the months to come.

This simple activity created meaningful connections to culture, community and history that will continue to grow beyond the garden gates.

Potting up Yam Daisies into biodegradable pots. Photo: Mark Gambino

Putting the finishing touches on the Yam Daisy pot. Photo: Mark Gambino