Jump to content
The Corroboree
theuserformallyknownasd00d

Announcing the Australian Ethnobotanical Society

Recommended Posts

The whole problem with humanity is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. Bertrand Russell.

Whilst we may be fanatical about plants and the incredible potential of them to improve our lives, we also have a great deal of experience between us about just how much it takes not only to run a society, but especially to get one started. It is with great excitement for the future of ethnobotany in this country and great pride in the people who have put in so much effort, that would like to announce that it is NOW OFFICIAL. With all of the necessary paperwork done, and after the swearing in of a committee, the Australian Ethnobotanical Society Inc. is now up and running. Soon we will be able to start taking memberships and we would like to extend a big thank you for being so patient with us.

At the minutes of the inauguration meeting, we came up with a few plans of action.

Firstly we have begun to set up our official website, currently being built by committee member thed00dabides, and already have a handy domain name to drop it on to. We will also have forums set up for association and ethnobotanical news and discussions, with two levels a hidden level for members only and public access. The forums will be active for news and notices, but we hope will also create a space for the discussion of ethnobotanical plants grown in Australia and overseas.

We have space on our website for plant monographs which are being written up daily by committee member Dylan with contributions from several other people, we aim to provide much more of this as time goes on. This may end up as a wiki style structure, well see how it progresses. We may also provide regional guides for ethnobotanical plants in the future, if anyone would like to contribute their research into native plants we would warmly welcome it. We also have a strong resource links page for people interested in delving into the world of plants further.

We will have regular meetings, organised semi-formally in outdoor locations such as National Parks and gardens around Sydney, if youre keen to set something up in your area wed be happy to advise but were very busy here in Sydney so we wont be able to do this in person.

Our Facebook page is being run by committee member Dylan, and is showing huge interest from a very broad base of people. Its a great source of quick and fascinating information about plants which have been used throughout history, and if you have anything youd like to contibute there feel free.

And last, but not least, we need a funky, fantastic LOGO and we were hoping that someone out there has got more talent than we do! Weve got together and come up with a fantastic list of goodies for the winner, including a Signed copy of Growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms by Paul Stamets, Cactus seedlings, a bunch of rare medicinal and edible seed stock, Cactus seed, some medicinal and edible mushroom cultures and a whole lot more! The prizes have been donated by the Shaman Australis nursery and the founding Australian Ethnobotanical Society committee members. We will finalise the prize list very shortly and post a more comprehensive list here!

If anybody out there who is going to submit is also handy with webdesign, thed00dabides would love to hear from you also, you can either contact him through the Contacts page or sign up and post on the forums.

More to come guys and lets start seeing those entries!!!

Whitewind

AES President

Edit; http://www.ethnobotany.org.au

Edited by thed00dabides
  • Like 12

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Heyo everyone,

Finally it's here. We're still trying to open a decent community bank account with decent rates i.e no charges - we have one but we want to close it as they are going to charge us business rates which are way too high so if anyone has any ideas please shout - we'll try to do this next week, and then we'll be able to accept membership. Which will be a mere $10 - access to our forums and groups etc.

Our first meeting will be somewhere outdoors in Sydney in about a months time, we aim to have a few workshops and talks and a BARBECUE!! followed by an exclusive SAB members only party in the evening organised by d00d haha.

Our new website is www.ethnobotany.org.au and we hope it will grow as time goes on, Dylan especially has been having fun writing articles but we'll all have stuff to add. There will be a news and information page so if anyone has anything they want to announce we can bung it on there too.

  • Like 6

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Looks like a good idea.

What about starting off with a donate button instead of paid memberships? Don't get me wrong I understand what the hours involved in web dev alone but it might be a good way to build memberships by letting people join for free and contribute through building content. I'm sure if you "passed the hat around at BBQ's, events that would top up the war chest as well.

Edited by sunblade

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Aye thanks sunblade, still nutting out the details. Both links work, for now. www.ethnobotany.org.au is the official site :lol:

EDIT: Umm you changed your post a lot so mine didn't make any sense.

Please see our existing discussion on this months ago to see with why we are doing this.

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=34208

Edited by whitewind

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

nice one, was wondering about this recently,

just checking website, especially the membership page. what guarantees of privacy are there? i think in the current circumstances you should put a privacy statement and at least a statement of your obligations under the privacy act,

but congratulations nonetheless , looking forward to developments in regard to this space (we'll need it in the not too distant future i'm predicting)

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What interest rates do u offer on a 1000 dollar term deposit?

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Qualia,

Yes privacy is something we discussed in great length. Privacy is largely up to the members themselves. Unfortunately the rules say we have to have names and addresses officially available for view at all times (actually on a database available for request). However, we will never use the address for contacting you ourselves, it will all be via email. It's an online world, after all :wink:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Isn't dat what you said? Shit don't ask ME to organise a party, no one will ever come back! Get Dylan to help, he's had practice :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Actually, there may be a fairly substantial number of non SAB-style members, this is designed to cater for all people interested in ethnobotany and there are a lot of people on that Facebook page who I know nothing about. I want to encompass food and medicine as well as psychoactives, sort of using the official international scientific terminology of ethnobotany to create a legitimacy for specialist areas not currently in favour with the current run of governments. Besides, I like food and medicine too.

Edited by whitewind

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Privacy is largely up to the members themselves

what does this mean? fake names and addresses are ok? or if someone doesn't want the spooks tracking them to stay out altogether?

Unfortunately the rules say we have to have names and addresses officially available for view at all times (actually on a database available for request).

cool, which rules? a statement of this on a faq or privacy statement would go a long way to informing potential members of what they're entering into

However, we will never use the address for contacting you ourselves, it will all be via email. It's an online world, after all :wink:

but a statement of your obligations to providing members names to third parties/law enforcement would be ethical,

...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank fuk

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Also I'm a bit obsessed with the Links Page so if anyone has cool external information sites for us to link to that would be really cool.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

scrap that

Edited by qualia

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Qualia,

Fair enough. We'll post up a privacy statement soon and d00d is trying to upload a copy of the constitution. It's based on a standard NSW association with some refinements like those mentioned above, essentially we will have to provide a list of names and addresses upon request to anyone who asks for it. Contact addresses like email addresses are for us to contact you, we won't publish them as there is no official requirement to do so.

This is a completely legal organisation running on association rules, and we will have to abide by the regulations enforcing them, which aren't enormously complicated or weird but are legally enforceable. It's essentially like running a business, but with looser regulation and enforcement tends to run to publishing member names and addresses, officially publishing meeting minutes and declaration of finances. It's just a community group like any plant society or association at the end of the day, and they'll mostly be interested in making sure we are running it as a non-profit organisation more than anything else.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

essentially we will have to provide a list of names and addresses upon request to anyone who asks for it

anyone? so anyone and everyone or is there some sort of legal requirement?

This is a completely legal organisation running on association rules, and we will have to abide by the regulations enforcing them, which aren't enormously complicated or weird but are legally enforceable.

absolutely, but the rules surrounding membership would be appreciated if you want people to join

It's essentially like running a business, but with looser regulation and enforcement tends to run to publishing member names and addresses, officially publishing meeting minutes and declaration of finances. It's just a community group like any plant society or association at the end of the day, and they'll mostly be interested in making sure we are running it as a non-profit organisation more than anything else.

sure, but you can appreciate this isn't like the local "petunia appreciation society", there's legitimate interests in peoples privacy and the disclosure of personal information,

but i apologise if i'm sounding negative again, i'm just voicing my personal concerns and i'm sure concerns of others as well ,,,, in light what we've seen in WA re: one of our members you can see the need for discretion

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm kinda curious as to how this relates to SAB? Is it backed or supported by Torsten and co? And I'm not really sure of the utility in starting another forum?

Only other qualm is that the Bertrand Russell quote is actually:

"One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision."

:wink:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Qualia I don't want to get bogged down discussing this, I think I've answered as best I can. As far as security goes, the NSA has everything you have ever sent, sold to them by Telstra or by other means, and the police can make up a warrant and search anywhere if they want to.

I am not going to post all our security arrangements online, thank you very much.

When the Constitution comes online we can make a separate thread about this, if you like OR PM ME. For now, that's all I have and I'd rather discuss other stuff.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice work guys, very professional looking website.

Obviously lots of hard work has gone into it.

Congratulations to all involved in it, it really is great to see it come to fruition :)

Two minor comments: the species listed in the article section are currently listed under either botanical name or common name. I suggest that they are listed under one or the other, but not a combination, just for the sake of consistency. Or list both together ie Banisteriopsis caapi (Ayahuasca Vine).

The other is the mission statement, referring to 'dietary, medicinal, recreational and other relationships'. I think the inclusion of recreational in this statement has the potential to be interpreted as the promotion of drug plants. Perhaps replacing 'recreational' with 'spiritual' or something similar would help.

Anyway, well done.

I'll be joining up shortly.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And last, but not least, we need a funky, fantastic LOGO and we were hoping that someone out there has got more talent than we do! Weve got together and come up with a fantastic list of goodies for the winner, including a Signed copy of Growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms by Paul Stamets, Cactus seedlings, a bunch of rare medicinal and edible seed stock, Cactus seed, some medicinal and edible mushroom cultures and a whole lot more! The prizes have been donated by the Shaman Australis nursery and the founding Australian Ethnobotanical Society committee members. We will finalise the prize list very shortly and post a more comprehensive list here!

If anybody out there who is going to submit is also handy with webdesign, thed00dabides would love to hear from you also, you can either contact him through the Contacts page or sign up and post on the forums.

More to come guys and lets start seeing those entries!!!

Whitewind

AES President

Edit; http://www.ethnobotany.org.au''>http://www.ethnobotany.org.au'>http://www.ethnobotany.org.au

Hi guys!

I am glad to hear this has come to fruition for you, congratulations! It must be nice to see the results of all your hard work.

I am wondering about your logo comp, although I am not good with drawing things on the computer. I'm much better with a pen or pencil and wouldn't know how to translate that into a computer drawing :S

I also havent forgotten about my fundraising scrimshaw idea, I actually did one of a lophophora but that was back when it was going to be AEA and I got ahead myself and scrimmed it on before the name had been confirmed (woops lol :P ) so that piece is a bit redundant and the colouring annoyed me anyway so i'm happy to write that off as practice.

If there happens to be a plant which either of you have in mind as a mascot plant let me know? I'll be working on a new much better one once I have a nice design in mind :)

Once again, great work, i'm sure theres a long road ahead of you both but well done for pulling it all together thus far :worship:

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Bogfrog,

Thanks for your kind words, nice to have some positivity here! I'm not sure either but here is a pic of the flower I am most loving for our symbol, if only because Dylan insisted on using it for the Facebook Page. It works for me, it's quite structured, beautiful, has a long history of medicinal and psychoactive use.

post-4660-0-58018700-1374300312_thumb.jp

I wanted to use it for the website but d00d couldn't fix up the resolution of the background image so went hunting in his local botanic garden and came up with the Brugmansia, which I think is beautiful, iconic, has a long history of recreational (parks and gardens / ornamental) use but is a little bit well known as a dangerous psychoactive.

I'd love your scrimshaw with the AEA as that was what I wanted, but the government decided it was too close in name to the Australian Ethnobotanical and Conservation Association which has been registered for a few years now but never really took off. I argued my case, but these guys don't listen that hard.

I'm not sure how to translate a piccy logo but I'm guessing so long as it's structured enough it could be scanned and used as a template?

I'd love you to try, I really like your work.

post-4660-0-58018700-1374300312_thumb.jpg

post-4660-0-58018700-1374300312_thumb.jpg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've been having lotsa fun with brugs lately, but yeh i see why there would be hesitation for using it as a logo given its reputation.

Heres some brugs i drew for Nemisty the other day, they are quite a simple, elegant shape which is nice to work with

post-8023-0-97572500-1374301795_thumb.jp

Lotus would be nice eh.. Or is that too buddhist?

I'll brainstorm on it anyway haha.

Lol heres the lopho scrim. I dont really like it i think its ugly lol but i'll try fix it up to whatever extent i can and give it to u if u like.

Something for the mantel piece. And its synthetic ivory so i can legally send it to ya too.

post-8023-0-99302400-1374301995_thumb.jp

image.jpg

image.jpg

image.jpg

image.jpg

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×