Students at Hawkesdale P12 College created a Bush food, fibre and medicine garden after researching indigenous uses of native plants in the south west of Victoria

1. Bush Food, Fibre and Medicine Indigenous Plants from south-west Victoria

4. Bulbine Lily - Bulbine bulbosa “ Although many members of the Lily family were eaten by the Aborigines, the small tubers of such plants as the Vanilla Lily and the Bulbine Lily are either bland or bitter to European taste and not likely to find their way into the mainstream.”

11. Spiny-headed Mat-rush Lomandra longfolia subs. longfolia The tough leaves are used for weaving and basket-making and twisted into cord.

12. Eel traps made of woven reeds These eel traps were used in the wetlands of the western district of Victoria and provided a regular food supply for Koorie people. The eels could be dried and smoked and were used as a trading item with other tribes.

13. References Victorian Koori Plants (1991) Beth Gott and John Conran, Yangennanock Women’s Group, Aboriginal Keeping Place, PO Box 666, Hamilton, Victoria 3300, Australia. Leigh Fary (pers. comm. 2008) Ngalawoort Plant Nursery, 1-3 Rooney’sv Road, Warrnambool 3280, Australia. Brambuk Bush Food Cafe (2007) Grampians Road, Halls Gap 3381, Victoria, Australia Australian National Botanic Gardens - Aboriginal Plant Use in South Eastern Australia http://www.anbg.gov.au/aborig.s.e.aust/index.html Bush Food species for temperate regions. http://asgap.org.au/APOL12/dec98-2.html