Native Indigo – Indigofera australis
Indigenous people crushed the leaves and roots and added them to pools of water. This stunned the fish so that they could easily be caught when they floated to the surface. (Source: Ngunnawal Plant Use)
The leaves and stems can be used to a yellow-fawn dye with alum as the mordant. (Source: Wikipedia)
Black Wattle – Acacia mearnsii
The Ngunnawal people used the gum as food and mixed it with ash to make cement. To ensure a supply of sap the bark was cut in autumn. The bark was also used to make coarse rope and string. (Source: Wikipedia)
This is an extremely useful species. The seed is edible, the foliage is used as soap and when mixed with water can make a fish poison. The bark is heated and infused in water then rubbed onto joints to soothe rheumatism. The hard timber is made into clap sticks, spear throwers and shields and the bark is used to make string. (Source: Ngunnawal Plant Use)
All parts of the plant can be used as a dye. Depending on the mordants used the colours produced range from grey-fawn to gold. (Source: Flora of South Australia)
Grown internationally as a source of tannin, firewood and timber. (Source: Flora of NSW)
The leaves contain a compound called aesculin which is known to absorb ultraviolet light. Early settlers crushed the leaves and rubbed them on the skin to prevent sunburn. (Source: The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan website)
This home grown compound was also used in the 1940s in sunscreens when imported products were difficult to obtain. (Source: Australian National Botanic Garden website)
Kurrajong – Brachychiton populneus
Widely used by Ngunnawal people as a source of food, fibre and water. Water is obtained from the tree roots. Young shoots can be eaten, usually roasted; seeds are eaten raw or roasted; and the jelly-like sap can also be eaten. String and rope can be made from the bark. (Source: Ngunnawal Plant Use)
Early European settlers roasted and ground the seeds for a coffee substitute. The foliage is an emergency stock fodder during droughts. (Source: Wikipedia)
Cherry Ballart – Exocarpus cupressiformis
Indigenous people used the wood to make tools including spear throwers, bull roarers, clubs and digging sticks. Early European settlers also utilised the wood for making chairs, gun stocks and tool handles and also found it suitable for carving and turning.
The sweet, fleshy fruit (actually a swollen pedicel) is edible and was enjoyed by both Indigenous people and early settlers.
(Sources : Ngunnawal Plant Use. A traditional Aboriginal plant use guide for the ACT region. Published by the ACT Government, Canberra, 2014. ISBN: 978-1-921117-15-2
https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Exocarpos~cupressiformis