The seemingly stark Australian landscape is like one giant supermarket for those in the know. It has sustained indigenous communities for thousands of years. Many Aboriginal Australians continue to eat traditional foods and prepare traditional remedies, well aware of their health-giving properties.
Bush tucker varies according to particular regions and seasons. Traditionally, indigenous groups living along Australia's coastline subsisted on marine animals (fish, shellfish, crabs and turtles), roots, fruit, small game and reptiles. Depending on the area, freshwater crustaceans such as marron (a large crayfish) and jilgies (the Western Australian name for yabbies or crayfish) may have been available. In the Torres Strait Islands, communities also ate dugong (a relative of the manatee and walrus), while in the tropical north, jinyp (stingrays) were eaten. Some wildflowers such as grevillea and banksia were sucked for their sweetness, and the tips of the Western Australian Christmas trees were chewed as gum, as were wattle and manna gum.
Hunting and gathering was more difficult in the harsh desert climate, where hunters frequently had to travel great distances to find kangaroos or emus. Other game included snakes, small lizards and the larger bungarras (the Yamatji name for goannas). In the desert regions, game was thrown on a campfire and cooked whole. Vegetables such as yams or cunmanggu (wild potatoes) were either cooked in coals or eaten raw. Wamulu (bush tomatoes), minyarra (wild onions), honey, wild grain and seeds from the Woolly Butt eucalyptus tree were also collected. If the rivers and creeks had permanent water holes, fish such as mullet and bream were added to the menu.
Communities in the tropical parts of northern Australia enjoy a totally different lifestyle from that of the desert peoples and communities further south. The Kimberley (at Western Australia's top end), the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland have lush growth and tropical downpours. These areas have two major seasons: Wet and Dry. During the cyclonic Wet, huge areas of land are subject to flooding, so plant and animal life thrives. The rivers and lagoons supply cherrabun (the Kimberley word for yabbies), catfish, barramundi, turtles, crocodiles and wild ducks. Edible water reeds or rushes grow in lakes and swamps, while the land offers a plentiful supply of meat, including bingajuooi (wild turkey), niminburr (flying fox) and snake. Snack foods come in the form of nyilli nyilli (bush bubblegum), mukabala (bush banana), wild passionfruit, lulguoi (boab nut), kilu (wild tomato), bush honey and flowers from the Jigul tree.
In the inland non-desert areas such as the Nyoongar people's territory in south and southwestern Western Australia, there are six distinct climatic changes. Traditionally, inland communities foraged for insects such as bardi grubs (found in wattle and grass trees); birds, including rosellas and ducks; reptiles (snakes and various lizards); and mammals, including yongka (kangaroos), waitj (emus) and coomarl (possums). They also ate a variety of fruits, flowers, berries and nuts. Various seeds were collected, ground up and mixed with water and either eaten as a paste or baked in coals to make damper.
The Australian landscape can be a chemist as well as a supermarket. Many plants and trees in the Australian bush can be used as herbal remedies. Bush medicines are mostly used as inhalants, antiseptics and liniments. For coughs, headaches and a runny nose, the young leaf tips of paperbark trees are crushed in the hands and inhaled. The bark from red river gums provides a powerful antiseptic: the bark is boiled and, when cool, rubbed on sore or irritated skin. Indigenous Australians have adopted thousands of such herbal remedies, often combining up to twenty ingredients for the desired result.
