Take the time to view and explore the resources below suggested for your area of expertise. Don’t forget to put on your headphones as you may be listening to audio files or watching short videos. As you use each link, it might be helpful to reflect in your learning journal about key ideas or words you hear or see. Remember, you are going to use the information you gather to collaborate as a team to create a garden design. Refer back to the questions and issues listed under your area to help guide your research. The idea is for you to acknowledge and honour indigenous culture in some way …

Some questions and issues for you to consider when researching your area:

• How have indigenous peoples been able to renew and replenish the natural environment over thousands of years (sustainability)?
• How have indigenous cultures used nature to ward off sickness?
• What is ‘bush medicine’?
• What techniques did they use to ensure they didn’t consume anything poisonous or harmful?
• How do you think these methods and natural ingredients differ to those used in Western medicine?
• What are the benefits of using the natural environment as a source of medicine?
• Are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples still using the natural environment the way they were before European settlement?
• What are some of the most significant or useful plants for this area of focus?
• Consider how you/we use or interact with nature in relation to medicine.
• How do you feel about how much/how little you use or interact with nature for medical purposes?

Resources and Links:

• This website has great information on bush medicine. Especially the list of Bush Remedies (scroll down to the bottom of the page):

http://www.bri.net.au/medicine.html

• Aboriginal Trail Information on plant uses – from Australian National Botanic Gardens: This site will give you a lot of ideas about which plants might be suitable in your own garden design.  Don’t forget to list both the botanical name and cultural uses:

http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/visiting/exploring/walks/aboriginal-trail/index.html

• Watch Clarence Stocckee (from ABC’s Gardening Australia TV program) show you some native herbs: 

• There is a fact sheet that goes with the video clip above: 

• Aboriginal Bush Medicines – from Australian National Botanic Gardens Education Services:

http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/education/programs/pdfs/aboriginal-bush-medicines.pdf

• Aboriginal Use of Wattles – from Australian National Botanic Gardens Education Services:

http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/education/programs/pdfs/aboriginal-use-of-wattles.pdf

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