Macquarie University medicinal chemist Joanne Jamie has been working with the Yaegl community for a decade as it explores ways to preserve indigenous knowledge and culture of bush foods and native plants to pass on to the next generation. Already, a high school indigenous science and cultural immersion program has begun, a Yaegl bush-medicine handbook written and a native bush food and medicine garden planted next to Maclean High School.
The next step the community is looking to take, Associate Professor Jamie said, was to use some of the traditional knowledge to turn indigenous plants and trees into natural medicinal soaps, creams and healthcare products that could be made and sold locally.
“The focus here is not on using our science to isolate compounds for (global pharmaceutical) development but to back up the Yaegl traditional knowledge with sound science showing why these plants and medicines work and endorsing that they can be used safely and effectively,” she said.
“What has been most exciting as we have worked together with this scientific testing … is that there has developed this sense that they want to show the world how valuable and useful their bush medicine knowledge is, and that now looks like what they will develop a cottage industry around.”
Native Vegetables and Indigenous Communities.
