Indigenous Resource Garden (Sandringham)

The Indigenous Resource Garden was established as an Australian Bicentennial Project by the City of Sandringham. It is a living exhibition of the plants used by Ngaruk William and Yallukit-Willam clans of the Bunurong and Boon wurrung people. These plants were used as food and medicine and some were used in the manufacture of everyday implements.

The Bunurong and Boon wurrung people of Bayside were the tribes which lived, and some of whose descendents still live, on the eastern shores of Port Phillip Bay. These language groups comprised
several clans. Clans were responsible for their land and places of spiritual importance. Attachment to their land was profound and heir knowledge of it intimate.

Indigenous people moved between the seashore and the plains, thus their diet differed from month to month. In high summer they would setup camp by the shore to feast on fruit and seafood. Middens of shells, left behind and built up over thousands of years, may still be seen along the Bayside coast. The land was not abundant in fresh water and they compensated for this by using a number of springs or native wells that opened up naturally along the shoreline.

Artefacts - Indigenous people were very resourceful in their use of plants for products other than food. Leaf blades from grasses and mat rushes for example, were split down the middle and left to dry. The blades were then wet to make them pliable, and the baskets were woven to the size and shape required.

The following useful plants can be found in the Indigenous Resource Garden:

Black-anther Flax-lilly - Dianella revoluta. The leaves of this plant were split and twisted into string to make strong ties. They were also used in the weaving of baskets.

Sword Sedge - Lepidosperma sp. The whole leaf was used for basket making.

Spiny Head Mat Rush - Lomandra longifolia. The long, smooth and tough leaves of this plant were used in the weaving of mats, baskets and fish traps. The leaves could also be split or scraped to provide fibre for string bags.

Tussock Grass - Poa sp. Used for weaving baskets and bags.

Kangaroo Grass - Themda australis. The stem and leaves of this plant were used as string to make nets.

Tall Spike Rush - Eleocharis sphacelate. The stems were used for making mats and bags.

Rushes - Juncus sp. The leaves were used for string and in the weaving of baskets.

Australian Indigo- Indigofera australis - The Ngaruk William obtained blue dye from the flowers and the roots were often crushed to poison fish.

Medicine - Indigenous people used a multitude of herbal medicines.

Medicines were prepared and administered in a number of ways, and these can be broadly characterised as:

Infusions - plants were soaked in water and drunk.
Smoking - herbs or leaves of trees were placed over a fire an smoke wafted over the person being treated.
Binding - plant parts were ground and applied to wounds or placed on the forehead so that the oils could be inhaled.

The following medicinal plants are found in the the Indigenous Resource Garden:

Tall Spike Rush - Eleocharis sphacelate. The decaying plant was bound to wounds to aid healing.
Special plants, such as the spike rush, would be thrown onto a small fire and the mother would squat on top. 'Smoking' or 'steaming' of a baby to make it strong was an equally important rite.

Pigface - Carpobrotus rossii. This plant contains mesembrine - a weak anaesthetic alkaloid that could be applied to burns and scalds. It was also eaten to alleviate pain.

Sticky Boobialla - Myoporum viscosum. This plant was soaked in water that had been heated with hot stones and used to make a medicinal head wash. It was also placed over a fire to produce medicinal steam.

Manna Gum - Eucalyptus pryoriana is planted in the park surrounding the Indigenous Resource Garden. The long, thin leaves of the Manna Gum were laid on fires and the smoke was believed to reduce fever.

Food - Indigenous women provided 50 to 80 percent of their family's foods. Their foraging expertise gave them independence and played a primary role in maintaining the health and wellbeing of their people. Food was cooked in a number of ways. Small fish, root vegetables, grubs, shellfish and other foods, which can be quickly cooked, were roasted in the ashes of the camp fire or earthen ovens.

Several indigenous species planted in this garden were used for food:

Water Ribbons - Trigloohin procera
The tubers are white, brown when older, and are starchy sweet. They were usually cooked in eathen ovens.

Bulbine Lilly - Bulbine bulbosa
The leaves arise from a creamy, spherical corn surrounded by a ring of swollen roots, which would have been eaten throughout the year.

Kangaroo Apple - Solanum serrulata
The fruits of this plant are edible when they first turn yellow. They turn a dull orange when fully ripe. When the fruits are green they are most likely to be poisonous.

Honey Pots - Acrotriche serrulata
Indigenous people would have sucked the nectar of this plant as a a sweet treat.

Ruby Saltbush - Enchylaena tomentosa
Indigenious people would have eaten the sweet, red, yellow or greenish berries and also used teh leaves as a vegetable.

Pigface - Carpobrotus rossii
Indigenious people would have eaten the reddish, salty fruits of this plant that ripens in summer. The tiny seeds and sweet pulp would have been sucked out from the base and eaten raw. The green leaves were eaten as a salad or were cooked and eaten with meat.

Photos:

Location

Cnr Royal Avenue and Bluff Road, Sandringham 3191 Map