Attention Adelaide SAB Members!!! Aboriginal Plant Use Talk!!!

[herbal_hindsight]

There is going to be a talk at the Unley Citizens centre at 7.45pm on the 27th January.

The speaker is Dr Phillip Clarke, head of Anthropology and Manager of Sciences at the South Australian Museum Science Centre.

He will be speaking on the Aboriginal uses of plants (ethnobotany) of the Adelaide Plains.

I will be attending for sure!!! Should be a fascinating night!!!

[Micromegas]

Thanks hh for letting us know. Not sure i'll be able to get there so you'll have to take some notes!

Clarke wrote "aboriginal people and their plants" btw which is not a bad book on indigenous ethnobotany, might want to check it out beforehand if you haven't already. bot gardens probably have one for sale. bit light on botanical names tho.

I didn't know he worked at the SA museum.

Cheers.

[herbal_hindsight]

No problem micromegas... I wasn't aware of that either... this information was passed onto me by another member [meeka] who was unable to get to her computer to post it herself and it was passed onto her by a family member.. you know the good old grape vine

I'll definently be going and i'll do my best to take notes... my hand is caining a lot lately as I am currently studying naturopathy and haven't studied officially in years... damn writers cramp!

I'm just studying the history of health at the moment part-time but will be starting fulltime in approx a month's time.

I would love to checkout his book before-hand but unfortunately am lacking in funds this week so perhaps i'll still purchase it at a later date!

It will certainly be a fascinating talk no doubt and will hopefully come in handy on my future bush walks and camps

[herbal_hindsight]

http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/page/default.asp?site=1&id=1240

[Micromegas]

That's one seriously accomplished individual. Will try to make this if possible. Thanks again!

[herbal_hindsight]

I emailed Dr Philip Clarke a couple of days ago regarding his talk tonight to see if he could give me any more details on it and his reply is as follows:

My talk is intended as an overview of Aboriginal hunter-gatherer use of plants in the Adelaide reigon. Its based on a paper I have coming out in the Journal of the Anthropological Scoiety of South Australia later this year. The talk will be illustrated witha Powerpoint display and should run about 30-45 minutes.

My main research area is ethnobotany - more recently in Arnhem Land. I hope to finish a book on plants and artefact sometime this year.

Best wishes, Philip

 

[random]

So annoyed I couldn't make it, especially since it is about my main interest.... Micromegas did you make it to the talk or was HH the only one there to represent us forum mob

[Distracted]

I went to it, I was one of two people there I saw under about 35.

I brought a book and a pen to write things down on but I left them in the car and only realised when the talk started, but I remember a few things...

Bullrush could be eaten if desperate for food.

Golden Wattle gum was soaked in water for a day then chewed as a snack.

Fresh Banksia Marginata pinecones could be soaked in water to turn the water into a sweeter drink called 'cool drink' apparently.

The only two ethnobotanical references were made at the end when someone asked a question, pituri and 'ming'. I think the plant was called ming, no idea on the spelling but that's the pronounciation.

He said that before white people even came to South Australia our diseases did and wiped out most of the aboriginal of the area so we don't even have a number of how many there were in SA. It's very unfortunate that so much knowledge is lost.

edit: Oh yeah... would've been cool to know beforehand it was at a plants club gathering, nice people there but I felt a little out of place. I ended up buying two books and some smoke water though

Edited February 7, 2011 by Distracted

[random]

Sorry, was unaware it was a plant club talk, the only information I had was what I had given to and posted by herbal_hindsight who kindly posted on my behalf. I'm glad you went though And it would be great if one of these days we could organise something similiar in Adelaide where forum members /ethno interested folk could ask more questions specific to our interests.

[random]

I would have thought that disease doesn't float through the air over hundreds of kilometres and infect otherwise healthy people... it would seem more likely in my uneducated opinion that white people/invaders or convicts brought disease through direct contact, not to also forget the mass killings of aboriginal people back in those days, which was indeed unlikely to receive much attention or even be honestly mentioned in historical papers.

[random]

oh and Pituri is also known as mingulbarr (sp?) and referred to as such still.

[herbal_hindsight]

I went to it, I was one of two people there I saw under about 35.

I brought a book and a pen to write things down on but I left them in the car and only realised when the talk started, but I remember a few things...

Bullrush could be eaten if desperate for food.

Golden Wattle gum was soaked in water for a day then chewed as a snack.

Fresh Banksia Marginata pinecones could be soaked in water to turn the water into a sweeter drink called 'cool drink' apparently.

The only two ethnobotanical references were made at the end when someone asked a question, pituri and 'ming'. I think the plant was called ming, no idea on the spelling but that's the pronounciation.

He said that before white people even came to South Australia our diseases did and wiped out most of the aboriginal of the area so we don't even have a number of how many there were in SA. It's very unfortunate that so much knowledge is lost.

edit: Oh yeah... would've been cool to know beforehand it was at a plants club gathering, nice people there but I felt a little out of place. I ended up buying two books and some smoke water though

 

That person who asked the question about what ritualistic plant use he knew of in particular pituri was me... i took lots of notes but havent had a chance to decipher them yet but will have to get to it as i know of a few ppl who would like copies

I enjoyed the talk it was still very interesting but it could've gone for a lot longer and covered entho-botany in a lot more detail..

I really enjoyed his reaction when I asked my question... his face kinda lit up with excitement and interest that I had asked and he couldn't stop grinning at me to begin with...

but yeh i felt very out of place... lovely people and i also bought a new book [a nice colour field guide on fungi of sa]

glad to see another forum member went along!

and yeh i'm 28 so i know exactly how you feel... i actually mentioned the proposed plant legislation to the club membership people when i first arrived but it felt a bit awkward... it was the first they knew of it and i tried not to go into too much detail about dmt, mescaline etc to avoid making myself a black sheep although they were interested i have their email contacts and will send them further more detailed information so they can research it more themselves.

[herbal_hindsight]

Sorry, was unaware it was a plant club talk, the only information I had was what I had given to and posted by herbal_hindsight who kindly posted on my behalf. I'm glad you went though And it would be great if one of these days we could organise something similiar in Adelaide where forum members /ethno interested folk could ask more questions specific to our interests.

 

Your welcome meeka and that is an awesome idea that I am sure we could probably organise with Dr Philip Clarke.... I have his contact details and I know his reaction to my question regarding ritual plant use was welcome.

I would have thought that disease doesn't float through the air over hundreds of kilometres and infect otherwise healthy people... it would seem more likely in my uneducated opinion that white people/invaders or convicts brought disease through direct contact, not to also forget the mass killings of aboriginal people back in those days, which was indeed unlikely to receive much attention or even be honestly mentioned in historical papers.

 

I would also believe this myself but can answer i better once i've completed more of my studies in my bachelor of health science [naturopathy] i guess there have always been carriers of disease such as mosquitos or are they introduced?

But it is my understanding that a strong immune system will and can fight off un-wanted bacteria and viral infections.

oh and Pituri is also known as mingulbarr (sp?) and referred to as such still.

 

Thanks for that meeka... i vaguely remember dr philip clarke mentioning that but i was unsure of the spelling and he left straight after he finished his talk

[Gimbal]

I would have thought that disease doesn't float through the air over hundreds of kilometres and infect otherwise healthy people... it would seem more likely in my uneducated opinion that white people/invaders or convicts brought disease through direct contact

Apparently the diseases were brought overland from the east by other aboriginal people. They had extensive trade/information networks; they sent people west to warn them about the invasion, which spread diseases faster and farther than white people could alone. Many different people gathered on Kaurna land to discuss and plan what to do, which then caused the diseases to spread through all their different communities.

[strangebrew]

Apparently the diseases were brought overland from the east by other aboriginal people. They had extensive trade/information networks; they sent people west to warn them about the invasion, which spread diseases faster and farther than white people could alone. Many different people gathered on Kaurna land to discuss and plan what to do, which then caused the diseases to spread through all their different communities.

 

Yes this is true. I've read before that the majority of South Australian aboriginals were hit by small pox even before whites arrived. It travelled quickly down the Murray River from the east.