| 1. Davidson’s Plum Davidsonia pruriens
This tree has a limited distribution in eastern Australia. Aborigines in these regions ate the sour-tasting winter fruits.
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| 2. Black Bean or Moreton Bay Chestnut Castanospermum australe
The seeds of this plant are produced in a large green pod. Though poisonous when raw, the Aborigines made the seeds edible by cracking them and soaking in running water for long periods, after which they were dried and roasted.
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| 3. Bunya-bunya pine Araucaria bidwillii
The cones of this tree take three years to ripen and each then produces about 600 g of non-poisonous seeds. This provided the occasion for a great festival in the region of the Bunya Mountains, in south-eastern Queensland. This meant feasting, cultural and economic exchanges, and an ‘Aboriginal Olympics’ in which selected individuals and teams competed in sports such as wrestling, and spear and boomerang throwing.
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| 4. Bolwarra Eupomatia laurina
Bolwarra shrubs are native to the Sydney area. The fruits, appearing in late summer, are said to taste like guava, but the seeds cause tingling of the tongue. Aborigines made fishing line from bolwarra bark, which was then soaked in the sap of gum trees to prevent it from fraying.
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| 5. Lilly Pilly Syzygium australe
This is the large tree in the middle of the bed. The hedge opposite is composed of another species, S. paniculatum, the ‘brush cherry’. Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson recorded Aborigines eating the berries at Botany Bay in 1770.
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| 6. Heath-leaved Banksia Banksia ericifolia
The flowers produce large quantities of honey-like liquid which was soaked in water by Aborigines to make a honey drink.
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| 7. Grass-tree Xanthorrhoea sp.
Grass-trees had many uses in traditional Aboriginal culture. The base of the stem was eaten, the flowers were soaked in water to make a sweet drink, and the woody stalks of the flower spikes were used to make spears. Grass trees were also an important source of resin for fixing spear and axe heads to shafts.
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| 8. Gymea Lily Doryanthes excelsa
The flower spike of this plant was eaten, like a giant asparagus. The roots were also harvested and made into roasted cakes.
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| 9. Queensland Bottle Tree Brachychiton rupestris (not to be confused with the Boab tree).
The starchy tissue of the stems and roots of the bottle tree was eaten, as were the seeds. The seeds are surrounded by irritating hairs which were removed by roasting in a fire. The roots yield good quantities of drinking water. The Aborigines also cut holes in the soft trunks of the tree, creating artificial reservoirs. Bottle trees (and related species) have fibrous inner bark which was used for making rope and twine for fishing nets.
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| 10. Eucalyptus pilularis (Blackbutt) x globoidea (White Stringybark)
This is a naturally occurring hybrid of two local species. Eucalypts provided many raw materials for Aborigines. The seeds of many species were ground and made into cakes; the root bark of mallees (shrubby, multi-stemmed eucalypts) was roasted, pounded and chewed; and flowers of some species were soaked in water to provide sweet drinks. Mallees were also an important source of water in dry areas. Eucalypt bark was fashioned into canoes, roofing material, torches, and bowls. The wood was used for making wooden dishes, spearpoints, digging sticks, clap-sticks and clubs.
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| 11. Port Jackson Fig Ficus rubiginosa
Figs were particularly useful to Aborigines. The fruits of all species are edible (though not always palatable). The inner bark of many fig species was used to make twine for dilly bags and fishing nets. The timber of figs is soft and spongy and was relatively easy to work into coolamons, shields, and even dug-out canoes. Fire was also made by twirling a sharpened hardwood stick between the hands against the softer dead fig wood. The milky sap of figs was used as a natural latex to cover wounds.
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| 12. Mat-rush Lomandra longifolia
The leaves of this plant were woven into mats, baskets, and tight-fitting bands that were put around an aching part of the body to lessen pain.
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| 13. Macrozamia Macrozamia communis
These are not palm trees but more primitive plants called cycads. Aborigines called this particular species Burrawang. The seeds are rich in starch but are very poisonous. Before they could be eaten they were soaked in running water in a dilly bag for several days, then crushed into a powder and shaped into a cake and roasted.
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| 14. Candlenut Tree Aleurites moluccana
The seeds of this tree were roasted and eaten by Aborigines in northern Queensland. The common name refers to the fact that the seeds are rich in oil. They were strung together by the European settlers with wire, and hung in a tree and lit to produce an artificial ‘candle’.
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| 15. Cadi Jam Ora: First Encounters Garden
The land occupied by the Gardens is the site where the modern transformations of the Australian continent began. This was the ‘first frontier’ between Aboriginal and European societies, leading ultimately to the tragic demise of the local Cadigal people. This four-bed display conveys Aboriginal people’s prior use of the site and their understanding of plants and the environment.
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| 16. Macadamia (or Bush) Nut Macadamia tetraphylla
Macadamia nuts were harvested by Aborigines in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. This plant was has been commercially developed in Hawaii for many years. Recently, large orchards of Hawaiian cultivars have been planted in Australia.
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| 17. Lawyer Vine or Wait-a-while Calamus muelleri
This is a rattan palm native to Australia. The barbs and spines of the stems were stripped away, leaving a strong flexible ‘rope’ that was used as an aid to climbing trees, for making traps for marsupials and fish, and even a noose for catching crocodiles.
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| 18. Prickly-leaved Tea-tree Melaleuca styphelioidies
The paperbark of this and other ‘tea-trees’ provided Aborigines with roofing materials, blankets, ‘disposable’ raincoats, slings for babies, bowls and cups, and rings to cushion loads carried on the head. The aromatic leaves were bruised and placed in holes in the septum of the nose to clear stuffy heads.
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| 19. Cabbage Tree Palm Livistona australis
The growing tip, known as a ‘cabbage’, was eaten either uncooked or roasted by Aborigines and early settlers. Unfortunately this killed the tree. Cabbage palms were once common in the Sydney area, but their numbers have been greatly reduced.
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