Top 3 ‘uses’ at Level 1 with Level 2 subcategories

The data in the above pie chart indicates the most common use of plants which include human consumption 33%, materials 33% and medicine 20%. Within these Level 1 categories there are subcategories that provide a greater insight into their specific use. The following discussion at Level 2 provides an insight into the breakdown of each of these categories. As there are 70 descriptors at Level 2, only those that have a ‘count’ were included in the following Tables.

7.4.1.1 Human Consumption

‘When the colonists first arrived in Victoria, they found the Indigenous People to be well nourished’.³⁷⁹ Not only would their active lifestyle contribute to this appearance, but the food in which they consumed, played a part, with a diverse range of plant species being a major contributor.

The range of species used for food by Indigenous People well exceeds the number of species used in Western culture. ‘It has been estimated that Aborigines regularly used 207 species as food plants, compared with the 94 crops now used in the world’.³⁸⁰ From the data extracted from Lane’s research, 96 species of plant have been used in Wadawurrung Country as food plants.

Table 7-12 shows there were 239 ways in which plants and their parts were used as a food supply in order to sustain life. Water would have been the prominent beverage of the time but the Wadawurrung People knew how to flavour water or sweeten it with the addition of nectars or gums.

Table 7-12 Details of human consumption at Level 2 use Human consumption

158

chewing gum 1

food 239

food additives/flavouring 7

insulation 2

stimulant 7

Total 284

The variety of fruit and vegetables available on the Wadawurrung menus would include bacca, bulbs/corms, flowers and buds, fronds, fruits, fungi, gum/kino, leaves – young, old and leaf buds, manna, medulla/pith, nectar, pods, resins/oleo resin, rhizomes, roots, saps, seeds, shoots, sporocarps, stems, stolons, tendrils and tubers.

Not all of the species found within these types of fruit and vegetables were available all year round such as berries, seeds, shoots, flower and leaf buds which were often a seasonal occurrence. As such, the requirement for variety and the need to avoid the depletion of resources was a contributing factor into the decision to relocate on the food circuit.

The women and pre-adolescent children of both genders had the responsibility of providing the bulk of the food for their clan on a daily basis. They foraged for vegetable foods which constituted about 70% of the Aboriginal diet along with small fresh protein sources including small reptiles, birds and their eggs when in season. They foraged every day, taking their offspring with them to learn the skills of finding food and raw materials. Before they were in their teens, children of both sexes had an intimate knowledge of the products of every corner of their clan’s land.³⁸¹

Foraging would have taken place in the morning, before the heat of the day, and it has been estimated that due to the abundant vegetation in Wadawurrung Country, the activity would have taken a total of two hours per day to gather sufficient food and materials for their entire clan’s needs for that day.³⁸² The foraging party would not have to commute far from home as they knew exactly where to source the raw materials they required within their Country as these regular locations and routes had been employed and discussed through thousands of generations.

Foraging distances were often defined by clan borders which in turn were usually defined by environmental features such as rivers, mountain ranges or changes in vegetation communities. The Wadawurrung’s foraging and hunting distances were comparatively less than other Aboriginal communities in Australia’s more arid locations that hosted less dense vegetation composition and a lesser diversity in food resources.

The tubers of all lilies were sought as staple vegetable foods though the common bulbine / yellow lily (Bulbine bulbosa) root called paik (which meant nasty) contained toxins that had to be dispersed by heat. The roasted tuber was edible and wholesome. This was unlike Arthropodium milleflorum that carried many crisp, white, non-starchy tubers that were usually eaten raw. However, older tubers became discoloured and needed to be hammered before being baked.³⁸³

159

The roots of the blushing bindweed (Convolvulus erubescens), called ‘tharook’, were an important vegetable staple during the coldest season. This was the principle root vegetable during the Winter months when yams daisies were unavailable or not fit to eat and tasted paik (nasty). They were dug with a digging stick and when baked the roots were mealy, like white flour. Portions were kneaded into ‘cakes’ on a sheet of bark and cooked in a basket alongside the meat in an earth oven or toasted as scone loaves and eaten as the carbohydrate element of a balanced diet. Bindweed roots could never be eaten raw for, in that state, they were unwholesome if not poisonous.³⁸⁴

Additionally, the roots of the common bracken fern (Pteridium esculentum) contained mucilaginous starch and were also a vegetable staple of the Aboriginal diet in the Western District. The roots were dug with the yam pole and were steamed over coals or baked and covered with hot ashes in an earth oven and served as the most common accompaniment to protein foods.³⁸⁵

The Wadawurrung People were well aware of the food plants that grew in their clan estate and the timing of their availability. They also knew the various preparations to remove toxins and combinations of food to sustain good health.

They abided by the long established law in Aboriginal society which engendered the conservation of all species. It was against the law to take more than what was needed. It was also against the law to dig every root in a patch, or eat every flower from a bush to allow fruits to develop, and not every fruit from a bush was eaten to allow the seeds to ripen.

160 7.4.1.2 Materials

As seen in Table 7-13, it is not surprising that fibre to make rope, string, bindings, thread and twines were the highest count of materials. Differing plies, textures and colours were used for a variety of day-to-day activities for both men and women, and these were required to be available on demand.

Table 7-13 Details of materials at Level 2 use Materials

Level 2 use Count

adhesives 18

adornment 20

building (residence) 11 coatings

(water-proofer)

2

creative/art 2

fibre - general 65

fibre for

bags/sacks/slings

10 fibre for baskets 32 filtration (wells) 1 fishing equipment 9

furnishings 9

insulation 1

Solid carriers 1

solid containers 7

tools 21

utensils/implements 7

weapons 52

wrapping 24

Total 292

These fibres were often made during the routine afternoon activities by the women and teenage girls following a morning of foraging. String was required for weaving baskets and knotting dhilli bags but also required for making fishing nets, stitching together clothing, rugs and neck reticules amongst many other things.

Consistent with the conservation approach to all species by the Australian Indigenous People, nothing went to waste and the native Australian hollyhock (Malva preissiana) was no exception. Lane writes that:

The outer layer of the stems yielded fine, silky fibres. When they were baked for the evening meal, they were chewed and sucked to extract the malty farina. The inedible, strong fibres were expectorated into a wangat (a hearth shovel made of bark), to be combed with a timboon (a mussel shell tool) and spun forming a blonde, smooth, but durable cord suitable for setting Spring traps.³⁸⁶

161

Grass string made from grass blades, or reeds and sedge leaves were beaten with a muller on a netherstone to flock and separate the fluffy fibres. The rove was spun and twilled. Grass string was much finer than that made from bark.³⁸⁷

The process for blending bark fibres was described by Lane:

Seated on the earth, the heel of one foot of a spinner was tucked modestly under the thigh of her other leg, the spinner extended the other leg out flat on the ground to form her work table. She rubbed some fat or oil upon her thigh. A handful of yarn fibres was rubbed back and forth with the flat of the hand (like a child making a worm out of plasticine) until the fibres were felted evenly together. [See Image 7-2] Another length was prepared the same way, and then they were spliced between palm and thigh much as woollen knitting yarn is spliced today. When a considerable length had been wound upon a spindle (sometimes a stick was used or a pelican's wing-bone) two women would work together to create a twilled cord.³⁸⁸

Image 7-2 Blending bark fibre and possum fur to create strong cordage.

Source: Linklater³⁸⁹

162 7.4.1.3 Medicine

Of the species identified within these Level 2 subcategories, plants used to treat conditions of the skin were the most commonly recorded (Table 7-14). This is largely due to the great variation in conditions that can impact skin such as blisters, infections, abrasions, grazes, lesions, eruptions, bites, stings, itches, contusions and deep or shallow wounds.

Table 7-14 Details of medicine at Level 2 use Medicine

Level 2 use Count

anaesthetising 1

antiseptic 4

backache 3

digestive system disorders 31

disinfectant 3

earache 1

fever 3

headache 7

infections 1

medical accessories 15

not specified 4

pain 6

poisonings 1

pregnancy/birth 3

respiratory system disorders 24

rheumatism 2

sedative 7

skin 51

sore eyes 1

teeth 2

tonic 8

Total 178

Common maladies of the colder months that impacted the respiratory system included various symptoms from sniffles and coughs to chest and head congestion all of which were concomitant to the Indigenous People’s, comparatively unsheltered lifestyle.³⁹⁰

Digestive system disorders were often remedied with the common field mushroom (Agaricus campestris) called ‘bambra’ during the wetter months whilst residing inland, which provided an alkali reaction in the digestive system.³⁹¹ During the summer months by the seaside, Carpobrotus spp. provided relief from the bilious affects from gourmandizing too much fatty food, the succulent leaves could not only relieve nausea and indigestion but they also moved constipated bowels.³⁹²

163

Although these scientific facts would have been unknown to the Wadawurrung People, thousands of years of observation of the practical results, passed down through generations of wai:we:rup (the clever men or wise women as these medical personages became known to the colonists of the 18th and 19th centuries) would have enlightened them on the comparative efficacy of the variety of plant species from which they made their choice.³⁹³