Janderwal - Ironbark Tree
An excellent timber: hard, touch, of interlocked fibre, durable and useful for many building purposes. Ironbark trees were traditionally used for making boomerangs, spears, clubs, shields and other tools for hunting and gathering.
Gum Trees - Eucalyptus Trees - Myrtaceae
A circle about 6cm deep was dug around the base of the tree. The larger roots were pulled up, debardked, cut into 20cm lengths, then water was drained out, or sucked out and drunk. A pad of chewed gum leaves was often placed on wounds which helped them to heal. Eucalyptus trees with stringy bark yielded bark suitable for making fishing lines, nets and baskets. The burls on a gum tree were sometime cut off and hallowed out to be used as carrying vessels.
Coochin-Coochin - Lilly Pilly - Acmena smithii
This is the most widely distributed of the Australian species being found in coastal districts from Victoria to northern Queensland. Its rounded, purplish fruits are of poorer quality than some others.
Rosewood - Acacia fasiculifera
Used for its wood. It is the tree after which the nearby town of Rosewood is named.
Heath-like eremophila - Eremophila microtheca
Currently being explored for its medicinial uses.
Unoyie / Humbah - Weeping Red Bottlebush - Callistemon viminalis
The wood is very hard and close-grained; it has the reputation of being very durable underground. It has been used for engraving, but with no marked success.
Fire Stopper Myoporum
Natural fire retardant.
Broad Leaf Tea Tree -
Melaleuca viridiflora + Swamp Tea Tree - Melaleuca irbyana
The leaves and bark were laid over meat and hot stones in the ground oven to keep in heat and moisture. Small canoes were made from the bark. The bark was also used to make knife sheaths, thatching for shelters, and slings for carrying babies. The bark was also used as tinder for starting fires and to make fish traps.
Long strips of bark were used as blankets for sleeping.
Ketey - Broad-leafed Bottle Tree - Brachychiton australe
This large tree has a bulky trunk. It is quick growing and deciduous. The white star-shaped flowers usually appear before the new leaves appear. The seeds were eaten either raw or roasted.
Binkey - Narrow Leaf Bottle Tree - Brachychiton rupestre
A 20m tree with a very swollen, bottle-shaped trunk. The flowers are cream coloured. Water is stored in the the woody tissue of the trunk after a wet season. The Aboriginal people would either bore a hole in the trunk and drink the water that came out, or would shew on the woody tissue. The sap, new shoots and young roots were also eaten. The seeds from young plants were eaten and more interestingly, seeds were collected from crows’ droppings, then ground into a paste-like food. The soft wood was used to make fires and also for making shields.
Tuckeroo - Cupaniopsis anarcardioides
A large tree with dark, dull leathery leaves. The 2cm fruit is orange and edible when ripe.