Yaddy & Plants for Life & Bush Tucker Garden

Yaddy

Yaddy was a much-loved young Pangerang warrior recognisable by his long flowing hair. He was an expert in making boondithurra and currawon (spear shafts) from the roots of trees along the river bank. His wife Bunjeet and their children helped him.

When Yaddy and his family grew old and died, they were buried in the soft gravel of the ranges. Just before he died, Yaddy wished he could go on making spear shafts for his people. Byamee dearly loved Yaddy, so had an everlasting plan for him.

Years later, Pangerang people noticed a new kind of plant growing, the grasstree. They had body-like trunks and leaves like flowing hair. In the spring, long shafts appeared in the centre of the plants and everyone recognised the spirits of Yaddy and his family. Yaddy’s spirit was still giving them spear shafts.

How we used the yaddy (grasstree)

We ate the roots and leaf bases of young yaddy (grasstree) plants and made a sweet drink from the flower nectar. We made resin from the trunk to glue stone and wooden tools together. We used flower stems for fire-sticks and to make currawon (fishing spears), and the sharp edges of leaves for cutting. We used our fire-sticks to change the vegetation, to flush animals from the long grass for easy hunting, to crack open seed pods in the fire’s heat and to reduce fuel so bushfires sparked by lightning burned slowly.

Bush Tucker Garden – Fibre – Medicine – Food

The natural environment was a hardware store, supermarket, and pharmacy for Aboriginal people. This garden features a selection of species of significance to Indigenous culture.

*Please do not pick or eat any of the plants from the Bush Tucker Garden*