ss JOURNAL '~» ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY Ay OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA _ INC. VOLUME 25 No. 5. JULY 1987 Registered by Australie Post - Publication No. SBHO764 Category NOTICE OF GENERAL MEETING The 5th General Meeting of the Society for 1987 will be held in :- THE CONSERVATION CENTRE, 120 WAKEFIELD STREET ADELAIDE “:0N MONDAY 27TH JULY AT 8,00 PM, AGENDA 1, Apologies : 2, Minutes of the previous General Meeting : Minutes of the previous General Meeting, held in the Conservation Centre, 120 Wakefield Street, Adelaide on 22nd June 1987, having been circulated in this journal, to be confirmed. 3. Papers and Journals : Papers and journals received from other societies and organisations, received since the last general meeting will be tabled at this meeting. 4. Business + 5. Speaker : Mr Robert Foster, MA, Aboriginal Hietorian, will address ‘the Society.and. the subject of his address will be :~ "Tibetan History since the Chinese Invasion." 6. Supper will be served at the close of the meeting. R, Allison Fon, Secretary 120 Wakefield Street ADELAIDE SA 5000ABORIGINAL USES OF PLANTS AS MEDICINES, NARCOTICS, AND POISONS IN SOUTHERN SOUTH AUSTRALIA by Philip A. Clarke INTRODUCTION The use of plants as medicines, narcotics and poisons in the southern South Australian region is poorly documented. This paper brings together the scattered accounts of plant use in these categories. This paper draws on historical material recorded in early ethnographies and combines this with recent field.work with present day Aboriginal people from the South Bast and Lower Murray River of South Australia. Plant use records from the contiguous area of western Victoria, which has a similar range of vegetation resources, are used to achieve a higher level of documentation. Those medicinal and hunting practices that involve ritual alone, without a plant material component, are considered as outside the scope of this treatment. The use of plants from the southern South Australian region as food and water sources has been discussed in other papers of mine }. METHODS OF ANALYSIS The data contained in this paper was gathered from historical and scientific literature sources and from ongoing research conducted by Steve Hemming and myself with living Aboriginal people and descendents of early settlers. The historical sources cited in this paper include ethnographies and journals of missionaries and early travellers which date from the 1840s and up until the present. The scientific literature consists of books and articles specifically on Aboriginal plant use. From 1982 up until the present, the Museum has been involved in a process of documenting Aboriginal culture from contemporary Aboriginal sources in southern South Australia. This has been predominately organised by Steve Hemming and has led to a considerable amount of fieldwork and research into this region. Much hitherto unrecorded information on Aboriginal use of the environment has been gathered from Aboriginal people living in the South Bast and from the Ngarrindjeri community of the Lower Murray. Some of this information has been used in joint projects between the Aboriginal community and the Museum. Ngarrindjeri people who have contributed much information concerning plant use include Dick Koolmatrie and George Trevorrow from the Meningie, Henry and Jean Rankine from Raukkan, and Laura Kartinyeri from Murray Bridge. The major contributors of plant use information from the South East were Lola and Ron Bonney who live near Kingston. Lola Bonney was a Cameron and is descended from the Milmandjeri/Temperamindjeri 3.alliance people who traditionally lived along the Coorong. Ron Bonney is descended from West Coast Aborigines but was brought up by Moandik people who lived in the Kingston area. Much work still needs to be done with contemporary Aboriginal people and many undocumented plant uses from this region still remain to be recorded. The information contained here should not be considered as a complete account of all plants that would have been traditionally used as medicines, narcotics and poisons, but rather as an indication of the range of such uses. The listing of some plant prohibitions concerning their use is included in this paper as it illustrates the Aboriginal perception of plants having both harmful and medicinal properties. For the purposes of this paper, southern South Australia is defined as the high rainfall areas of this state. This is intended as an environmental boundary and not as a statement of social homogeneity (see Fig.1 in the Appendix). This paper is divided into the sections dealing with medicines, contraceptives, narcotics, poisons and vermin repellants, and other aspects (prohibitions). Within each section, the information is arranged by subtopic or alphabetically according to species. The common names and the distribution of plants discussed in this paper appears in Table 1 of the Appendix. MEDICINES Acacia species LEGUMINOSAE Acacia appears to have been a major medicine for most ailments in the southern regions of Australia. The active substance probably being the astringent tannic acids?. Wattle gum (tunguree) has been recorded as used by the Ngarrindjeri to relieve chest problems®. Laura Kartinyeri said that wattle gum was used for indigestion*. She describes an interesting technique of storing the gum. It was first soaked in water and then pleced on a layer of Eucalyptus leaves. More leaves were then placed on top of it. This wrapping of leaves kept the gum soft for later use. Dawson claims that Western Victorian Aborigines drank solutions of boiled wattle bark as a remedy for indigestion®. MacPherson records the use of the wattle bark decoctions as a Western Victorian cure for dysentery when drunk and as treatment for sores, skin disorders and venereal disease®. These people also used wattle bark as a cure for rheumatism. For this ailment, Dawson says that the bark of the Blackwood (A. melanoxylon R.Br.) was: roasted, and then infused while hot. The affected part is bathed with the hot infusion, and bandaged with a cord spun from the fur of the flying squirrel, or ring-tailed opossom, with a piece of opossom rug as a covering’.Allocasuarina species CASUARINACEAE (and Casuarina species) According to Moriarty, the female cone of the Sheoak, commonly termed a Sheoak Apple, and the fibre of a certain (unspecified) tree was powdered for sores and rheumatism by the Ngarrindjeri (= Moriarty’s Narrinyeri)®. It is not clear from this account. whether the two sources of powder were used separately or together. Henry and Jean Rankine say that Sheoak Apples, when green, were boiled and eaten with sugar. However, when red, they were eaten raw or boiled®. They described this as "blood medicine" and said that it would "clear your blood out". Ngarrindjeri people, such as Dick Koolmatrie, stated that the red part of the Sheoak sap was also used as.a cure for sores by the Ngarrindjeri!®. Lola and Ron Bonney say that slabs of Sheoak bark were cut, dried and then boiled in a kerosene bucket. The solution would then be used to bath an itch such as that caused by bites from titree lice and insects!!, Laura Kartinyeri described how the red sap was used for colds!?. It was taken off of the inside of the Sheoak bark and it was boiled up and the solution drunk with a bit of sugar. Laura Kartinyeri particularly needed this medicine when rabbit trapping. It is interesting to note that the term for the Allocasuarina (and Casuarina presumably) used by the Adelaide people, karko, was also applied to red ochre!%. The reason for this is not recorded. One explanation is that the Sheoak was linked to red ochre due to the similarity of colour and because they were both considered important medicines. Callitris preissii Miq. CUPRESSACEAB The resin of this species, commonly known as the Native Cypress Pine, was made into teething sticks called pitjingi by the Jaralde of the Coorong!*. The resin was heated over a fire until pliable and then moulded into a dumbell on one or both ends of a stick. The child sucks the gum which is believed by it’s mother to contain medicinal qualities as well as being advantageous to a quick painless growth of teeth. 7 Miles records the use of “pine” leaves (Callitris ?) as a treatment for chest infections'$, A depression in the ground is filled with hot ashes and is covered with damp pine leaves and then a cloak. The sick person then lies on top of this and is covered with more cloaks and sand. This treatment produces a profuse flow of perspiration. Miles, unfortunately, does not localise his record but it is highly likely that it is from the eastern states. Another possible identification of the "pine" leaves is Exocarpos. However, I believe that these leaves would not provide much in the form of aromatic steam.Clematis microphylla DC RANUNCULACEAE This plant is a creeper that covers small trees and bushes and due to the hair-like awns of the seeds it is commonly called Old Man’s Beard. This plant was recorded from Dick Koolmatrie and George Trevorrow as used to ease the pain of rheumatism and could also be used on sores?®, They stated that it is too strong to use at some times of the year and will cause pain if left on for too long*7. Laura Kartinyeri described how Old Man’s Beard was used to wash sores on the legs*®, Lola Bonney says that Old Man’s Beard is also useful for muscular aches!%. She describes how her grandfather, Alfred Cameron, used to put it on a thick sheet of brown paper that was wrapped in cloth and placed in the oven for warming. After the Old Man’s Beard had sweated for a while, it was removed and bound directly to the sore part (ie arm) for about half an hour. This was sometimes used in conjunction with emu oil to relieve arthritis. Lola Bonney warns that this creeper will cause severe blistering if left in contact with the skin for too long. Another method of using Clematis was in the form of a drink. Ron and Lola Bonney said that it was sometimes boiled in water and the resultant liquid drunk for stomach problems?°, The internal use of this plant was also stated by Lola Sumner, a Ngarrindjeri person living at Raukkan, in her discussions with Steve Hemming?! Dianella longifolia R.Br. LILIACEAE The reddish brown roots of this plant, commonly refered to as the Pale Flax-lily, were boiled and the solution taken internally for colds according to Lola Bonney. It was called peeintook by the Milmandjeri and pintook by the Moandik people??. Bucalyptus species MYRTACEAB The records of Eucalyptus use as medicine indicates that it was used both externally and internally. Dick Koolmatrie and George Trevorrow stated that the leaves of an unidentified species of Eucalyptus bush from the Coorong was used as a cure for colds and pox*®, The leaves were dried, boiled and the solution drunk. Moriarty records that rushes and the roots of the Mallee tree were boiled (presumably together) and drunk for internal diseases by the Ngarrindjeri arrinyeri)?4, Laura Kartinyeri says that the roots of a species of Eucalyptus with small red-brown leaves, were boiled and the solution drunk for colds?5. This plant is probably the Slender-leaved Red Mallee (£. foecundaShau.)). Dawson claims that the Aborigines of the western Victorian region used the small roots of a narrow leaved species of Gum tree as a cure for indigestion?®. In this case, the roots were infused in hot water and the resulting solution drunk as a tonic.MacPherson gives a similar account: An aboriginal preparation was Minde-warrum-bing, composed of boiled eucalyptus leaves and native honey. It was taken internally for severe colds, dysentery and other ailments. It was sometimes taken by all the camp when bad illness was prevalent27. Unfortunately, this record has no associated locality but appears to be from one of the eastern states. Stirling records the memories of a Ngarrindjeri (=Narrinyeri) woman named Mrs Louisa Karpeny concerning the small pox epidemic that reached the Lower Murray in the early part of the 19th century?®. She stated that the boiled leaves of Mallee Eucalypts gathered in the scrub was one of the medicines that was unsuccessfully used to treat the disease. Ron Bonney stated that two types of Eucalyptus were used in the South East for medicines?®. One kind consisted of the immature regrowth of large heart shaped leaves that grows to about five feet (about 1.5 metres) high from the bases of large trees. This was put on a fire with the sufferer standing next to it for relief of colds. According to Ron, another type of Eucalypt that was used is a species of Mallee that, from the description given, is probably the Slender-leaved Red Mallee, EB. foecunda Schau. Branches of this tree were placed on a fire for a short time and then. put on bare ground and the cold sufferer would lay on top of this, Lola Bonney said that on the Coorong, green Mallee leaves were put on fires and smoke inhaled to relieve headaches, neuralgia and sinus pain®°. These methods of use are similar to that recorded from the Padthaway people of the South East for treating disease?!. These people placed hot ashes on the ground and spread over this a thick layer of fresh gum leaves. The sick person was laid on top and covered over. Dawson records a similar method for the treatment of rheumatism, severe cold or general pain for western Victoria®?. In this account, a fire is produced in a hole in the ground and then a layer of fresh leaves put down to cover it. Water is poured over the leaves and the sick person placed over this and covered with a possom rug to induce profuse perspiration. After a while, the person was removed and rubbed dry with hot ashes and kept warm. Stephens records the application of masticated Gum leaves by the Adelaide people as a poultice for sore eyes and sandy blight®?, These leaves were also used by the Adelaide people for "common wounds" and bruises?¢, Lola Bonney states that on the Coorong, Mallee leaves were chewed for relief of sore throats?>. Dawson records from western Victoria, the use of the kino (often erroneously termed gum) from the White Gum (Kucalyptus ?) as a plug that was inserted into the hollow of a decayed tooth to relieve toothache®®. The astringent sap from some species of Eucalyptus in the eastern states was rubbed over the body for medicinal purposes37.Geranium species GERANIACEAB According to Bourke et al, the Lower Murray Aborigines used Wild Geranium leaves to stop insect bites stinging?®. Lepidosperma species CYPERACBAE Dick Koolmatrie said that the young root stems of Lepidosperma, commonly called Rapier Sedge, were boiled and eaten as a cure for colds?*, Muehlenbeckia adpressa (Labill.)Meissner POLYGONACEAE and M. gunnii (Hook.f.)Walp. Both of these species of creeper are commonly refered to as Sarsaprilla with M. gunnii being the Coastal variety and M. adpressa the Inland Sarsaprilla. Ron and Lola Bonney said that it was used for stomach problems such as dysentry and that it was able to put a lining on the stomach*®. It is usually sun dried after the leaves have been stripped off but can be dried quickly in a wood oven. After it has been dried, it is boiled and the solution drunk. Lola and Ron had several accounts of people who had used this treatment to demonstrate its effectiveness. The inland species, M. adpressa, was regarded as being much more powerful than the coastal M. gunnii. Myoporum insulare R.Br. MYOPORACEAR The leaves of this plant, also known as the Blue-berry Tree or the Juniper Tree, were heated upon the fire and used as a fomentation in cases of diarrhoea by the South East Aborigines of South Australiat}. According to Schuermann, diarrhoea was treated by the Port Lincoln Aborigines by fomenting the anus with heated green leaves of the Currant Tree*?. The most likely identification of this species is as Myoporum. Nicotiana species : SOLANACEAR European tobacco has been recorded by Hemming as a Ngarrindjeri treatment for cuts, presumably applied as a poultice’’, Several species of Nicotiana occur naturally in southern South Australia but there appears to be no record of the use of these species as medicines in this area. The above record of the use of European Tobacco is probably a recent innovation.Phragmites australis GRAMINEAE (Cav.)Trin. ex Steudel Stirling records that the young shoots of Reeds was one of the medicines used unsuccessfully by the Ngarrindjeri (. This is about two hundred kilometres to the north of the northern Mt Lofty region which is the boundary of what I have defined as southern South Australia. This pitjuri would have been traded from the Georgina/Mulligan Rivers area but it is doubtful whether it was traditionally traded to a significant degree as far south as the South Bast, as pitjuri bags have not been recorded as part of the material culture of this region in the early ethnographies. I therefore suggest that in the southern areas of South Australia that the roots of locally occuring Duboisia hopwoodii or Nicotiana were used as a narcotic. POISONS The use of poisons to kill game is not well recorded for the southern South Australian region. It is difficult, in some accounts, to identify poisons that would have been chiefly used for fishing from those that were sorcery materials that would have been used on people. The practice of suffocating animals that live in burrows and tree hollows is included in this section as it appears that particular species of plant may have been used in some cases because they were known as producing abundant poisonous smoke. Poisons for Water The practice of poisoning creeks and water holes in order to stun fish and thus bringing them to the surface has been described from other parts of Australia. For example, Crawford records this use of plants for the Kimberleys, Maiden for the eastern states presumably, and Hamlyn-Harris & Smith for Queensland’®. The poisoning of yockholes with the Solanaceous Duboisia for the purposes of stupefying emus and rendering them easy prey is recorded from Central Australia by Cleland’7. A specinen of Duboisia (labelled as D. myoporoides) in the Museum’s ethnobotanic collection has documentation that it was used to stupefying emus in New South Wales7®. 13.The use of plants as fish poisons for the Adelaide and Encounter Bay areas is suggested by Wyatt who recorded the terms pinjane and koue pinjane meaning to charm and to poison water7®. Wyatt also records the term paicha mooroo which means: a kind of dust or powder used for the purpose of poisoning water and food®?, However this could refer to sorcery. Teichelmann and Schuermann recorded the term kudnamurro from the Adelaide area as "a substance for enchanting rivers" and this is possibly a reference to the practice of fish poisoning®? Curr describes how the Bangerang people of the Murray River in northern Victoria sometimes obtained fish by poisoning small lagoons by casting fresh Bucalyptus boughs into the water®2, The fish died in a few hours and came to the surface. The identity of the plants used by the Adelaide and Encounter Bay people is not clear but the records of Curr and Cleland above suggest Eucalyptus or perhaps a Solanaceous plant. Curiously, Taplin states that the Ngarrindjeri (=Narrinyeri), unlike some other Aboriginal groups, had no knowledge of poisonous plants®*. Smoke Poisons Browne describes in detail the use of the leaves and stems of Lomandra effusa (Lindley)Rwart (=Browne’s Merotes effusa) to suffocate bettongs (Bettongia lesueur) in their burrows®*, This record is described as relating to the lower north of South Australia which presumably means the upper Mt Lofty and lower Flinders Ranges area. Browne uses the Aboriginal name, bokra, for the bettong. The procedure began with all of the exit holes of the " burrows being blocked, with the exception of the hole with the smoking material and a hole on the opposite side of the burrow complex. This last hole was simply blocked with a digging stick or grass so that it could be quickly opened up to see if the smoke had penetrated all the way through. The hole with the fire was chosen on the windward side and the smoke fanned in with either an owl’s wing or a bokra’s skin sewn on to a forked stick. This smoking process took about 15 or 20 minutes. The exact locality of the dying bokra was determined by crouching on the ground and listening for movements and coughing. These spots were marked and later dug up. Browne claims that he once saw eleven bokra removed from one burrow. The South Australian Museum has a specimen of Lomandra effusa collected by Browne that claimed was used for smoking rats out of burrows®5. It was collected. from Booborowie in the mid north region. © Cawthorne records that Adelaide Aboriginal people smoked possums out of tree hollows and used a similar technique to suffocate wombats in the ground®®. However, he does not say whether a particular plant was used to create the smoke.VERMIN REPELLANTS Artemisia arborescens L. COMPOSITAE This plant, commonly known as Wormwood, is often found growing as hedges in the southern parts of South Australia. Wormwood originally came from southern Europe. Ron Bonney said that Wormwood was used in the South East area to get rid of vermin®?. The leaves were boiled and the liquid used to wash lice and flea infested heads. Dogs with fleas could be made to sleep on a bed with Wormwood placed underneath it. This plant can still be found growing on the site of One Mile Camp on the outskirts of Meningie in the Lower Murray8®. This Aboriginal camp was occupied up until the 1960s. Wormwood is growing here in the shape of the, dwelling it was originally planted around. Wormwood is often listed in medical folklore books concentrating on European uses of plants. In Europe, as the name suggests, it was used to rid the body of round worms®®. Santonin is the active anthelmintic substance. The use of this plant by the Aboriginal people at One Mile Camp would have been based on the European folklore. Marrubium vulgare L. LABIATAB Ron Bonney states that this plant, commonly called Horehound, was used to keep fleas away and was placed about the bedding®!. Although introduced from Europe, this species is widespread in the southern regions of the state and, as with Wormwood, would have been a plant use learpt from early European settlers. OTHER ASPECTS Although some plants in southern South Australia were used as sources of medicine, other plants were considered by the Aborigines to have properties that were harmful to certain categories of people. From the ethnographies available, it appears that most prohibitions were restricted to animal foods. Those recorded for the Adelaide region by Cawthorne and Teichelmann are such that women generally live upon vegetables®*. Eyre records a complex system of food prohibitions that presumably applies to the Murray River area, For example, boys were forbidden to eat some kinds of fungi as well as many categories of meat. Young initiates were kept upon a vegetable diet until they had recovered from the effects of the initiation. Women, until past the age of child-bearing, and young men were not allowed to eat the vegetable food (war-itch) that emus feed upon. The Ngarrindjeri (=Narrinyeri) had a prohibition concerning the type of fire wood that could be used®4. They believed that if boys cooked food with palyi or panpandi wood then all the fish would forsake the shore. The identity of palyi is not known but panpandi or panpande refers to the Cherry Tree or Exocarpos 15.cupressiformis Labill.?5. In the Lower Murray and Coorong area there was a practice termed "hanging the creeper" that illustrates another use of plants. A quantity of the Old Man’s Beard creeper (Clematis microphylla DC) was sometimes placed on a man’s wurley as a sign that someone intended to do him harm?®. The harmful properties were probably recognised as strictly symbolic. DISCUSSION The plant medicines listed in this paper illustrate the wide range of possible treatments for certain ailments such as dysentry and wounds. Chest infections seem to have mainly been treated with the steam bath technique, although with several possible plant sources of steam. Muscular and rheumatic pain was mainly relieved through the application of various plants that draw blood away from the damaged area. Many of the methods of preparation listed in this paper involve some boiling. Although traditional Aborigines would have had difficulties in boiling larger quantities of water than could be put into sea shells, this does not rule out the traditional use of those plant medicines. It is likely that the medicinal quality of these plants was extracted through crushing the material and soaking it in cold water for some hours. Some of the medicines listed here, for example Sheoak Apple and Sow Thistle, are important food sources as well as medicines. Both plants were described by the Aboriginal informants as "blood medicine". This brings out a problem that exists with using a European definition of medicine to discuss Aboriginal medical practices. Food that contributes to the general good and strong feeling of the individual is seen from the point of view.of the informant as a medicine. However, the European definition of medicine appears to concentrate more on the correction of an existing ailment. It is quite likely that many of the medicines listed in this paper have a chemical basis to their effectiveness. However, from the literature, it is difficult to determine which poisons were used for hunting practices and which plant materials had a strictly symbolic or even magical function, Some medicines, such as the "friends" of Aboriginal healers, were used in a fashion that place more emphasis on the ritual rather than on the organic basis of ihe cure. In the case of poisons used in fishing or hunting game, the chemical basis for the action is obvious even though the use of them may have involved some ritual. The discussion of the prohibitions of various foods illustrates the complexity of the inclusion of the natural world into the Aboriginal cosmology. To conclude, I hope this paper gives the reader a wider appreciation of the way the Aboriginal people used plants. Many of the previously published accounts of Aboriginal plant use are restricted to the categories of food and weapon manufacture with only scanty reference made: to medicines, narcotics, poisons and vermin repellants. It is hoped that this treatment will go some way in providing documentation on the poorly recorded classes of plant use in southern Australia. 16.1 Clarke 1985a, Ibid 1986b, Ibid 1986a, Ibid 1986b 2 Lassak & McCarthy 1983:147 3 Hemming 1984b 4 Hemming & Clarke 1987c 5 Dawson 1881:57 6 MacPherson 1925:593-4 7 Dawson 1881:56 8 Moriarty 1879:52 9 Hemming & Clarke 1986b 10 Hemming 1982, Ibid 1984b 11 Hemming & Clarke 1986b 12 Ibid 1987¢ 13 Teichelmann & Schuermann 14 Berndt 1940:167 15 Miles 1963:13 16 Hemming 1984a, Ibid 19B4b 17 Ibid 1982, Clarke & Jones 1984 18 Hemming & Clarke 1987¢ 19 Ibid 1986b, Ibid 1987b 20 Ibid 1987¢ 21 Ibid 1987b 22 Ibid 19B6b, Ibid 1987b, Ibid 1987¢ 23 Hemming 1984, Clarke & Jones 1984 24 Moriarty 1879:52 25 Hemming & Clarke 1987c 26 Dawson 1881:57 27 MacPherson 1925:590 28 Stirling 1911:18 29 Hemming & Clarke 1986b, Ibid 1987b 30 Ibid 31 Lawson 1879:59 32 Dawson 1881:56 33 Stephens 1889: 491 34 Ibid 1492 35 Hemming & Clarke 1987b 36 Dawson 1881:57 37 MacPherson 1925:591 38 Bourke et al 1980:74 39 Clarke & Jones 1984 40 Hemming & Clarke 1986b, Thid 1987a 41 Angas 1847:110 FOOT NOTES 42 43 44 45 46 a7 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 1840:2:9 56 87 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 7m 72 B 74 15 16 17 78 79 80 al 82 B3 84 85 17, Schuermann 1879: 224 Hemming 1984 Stirling 1911:18 Clarke 1986:10 Clarke & Jones 1984, Hemming & Clarke 1987¢ Hemming & Buckskin 1987 Dawson 1881: 57 Hemming & Clarke 1987b Byre 1845:2:361 Meyer 1843: 90 Ibid 1879:197 Taplin 1879:47 Ibid 1874: 83 Hemming 1982, Ibid 1984a Hemming & Clarke Ibid Ibid Ibid Clarke 1985a:5 Hemming & Clarke Byre 1845:2:361 Dawson 1881:57 Byre 1845: 2:361 Hemming & Clarke 1987¢ Berndt & Berndt 1943:244-5 Levitt 1981: 62 Angas 1847:73 Johnston & Cleland 1933/4, Hicks & LeMessurier 1935, Watson 1983 Angas 1847:73 Cleland 1966:120 cited Smyth 1878: 222-3 Watson 1983 Ibid Ibid Cleland 1957:159 Specimen A48948-Cleland Crawford 1982: 33, Maiden 1889: 172, Hamlyn-Harris & Smith 1916 Cleland 1966:120 Specimen 41817-source? Wyatt 1878:175 Ibid 2161 Teichelmann & Schuermann 1840:2:12 Gurr 1883:110 Taplin 1879: 47 Browne 1897: 72-3 Specimen A9527-Browne 1987¢ 1986b, 1987b, 19876 1987 FLINDERS UNIVERSITY LIBRARY86 Cawthorne 1926:19 87 Hemming & Clarke 1986b 92 Cawthorne 1926:17-8, Teichelmann 1841:796 88 Ibid 1987a 93 Byre 1845: 2:293-5,335 89 Cartwright 1985: 34 94 Taplin 1874: 90 90 Ibid 95 Ibid 1879:127 91 Hemming & Clarke 1986b 96 Hemming & Clarke 1986a APPENDIX TABLE 1 Plant names, families and occurrence within South Australia SPECIES COMMON NAME FAMILY OCCURRENCE Acacia species Wattle Leguminosae Statewide Acacia melanoxylon Golden Wattle on NL SL SE Allocasuarina species Sheoak Casuarinaceae All except Il Artemisia arborescens * Wormwood Compositae YP Si Gallitris preissii Native Cypress Pine Cupressaceae | Southern areas | Glematis microphylla Old Man’s Beard Ranunculaceae Southern areas” Dianella longifolia Pale Flax-lily Duboisia hopwoodii Pitjuri Eucalyptus species Mallee, Gum Eucalyptus foecunda Slender-leaved Red Mallee Exocarpos cupressiformis Native Cherry Geranium species Geranium Lepidosperma species Rapier Sedge Lomandra effusa Marrubium vulgare * Horehound Muehlenbeckia adpressa Inland Sarsaprilla Muehlenbeckia gunnii Coastal Sarsaprilla Juniper Tree Native Tobacco Common Reed Sow Thistle Stinging Nettle Grass Tree, Blackboy Myoporum insulare Nicotiana species Phragmites australis Sonchus species Urtica incisa Xanthorrhoea species KEY TO AREAS IN TABLE North West NW Lake Eyre Basin LE Nullarbor NU Gairdner-Torrens Basin GT Flinders Ranges FR Bastern EA Eyre Peninsula EP 18, Southern areas NW LE NU GT EP. Liliaceae Solanaceae Myrtaceae Statewide oD All except If Santalaceae FR EP NL SL K. Geraniaceae Southern ar Cyperaceae Liliaceae Southern are; Labiatae Southern areas Polygonaceae Southern ar GT LE Southern Myoporaceae NU EP YP SL K: Solanaceae Statewide Gramineae LE FR MU SL Compositae Statewide MU KI SE All except NU G Urticaceae Liliaceae * Introduced “species 1 AND FIGURE 1 (after Jessop & Toelken 198 Northern Lofty Ranges Murray Lands Yorke Peninsula Southern Lofty Ranges Kangaroo Island South EastANNUAL RAINFALL pe ° KM 600 FIG.1 Geographic regions of South Australia.REFERENCES ANGAS, G.F. 1847 Savage Life and Scenes in Australia. London:Smith, Elder & Co BERNDT, R-M. 1940 Some aspects of Jaralde culture. Oceania 11:2:164-85 BERNDT, R.M. and C.H. 1943 A preliminary report of fieldwork in the Ooldea region, western South Australia. Oceania 13:3:243-80 BOURKE, C., JOHNSON, C. and WHITE, I. 1980 Before the Invasion. Oxford:0xford University Press BROWNE, J.H. 1897 Anthropological notes relating to the Aborigines of the lower north of South Australia. Trans, Proc. Rep. R. Soc. S.Aust. 21: 72-3 CARTWRIGHT, L. 1985 A Commonsense Guide to Medicinal Plants London:Angus & Robertson CAWTHORNE, W.A. 1926 Rough notes on the manners and customs of the natives. Proc. R. Geog. Soc. Aust. S.Aust. Branch Reprint CLARKE, P.A. and JONES, P.G. 1984 Notes and tapes from an fieldtrip to the Coorong with Dick Koolmatrie and George Trevorrow, 19/3/1984. CLARKE, P.A. 1985a The importance of roots and tubers as a food source for Southern South Australian Aborigines. J. Anth. Soc. S.Aust. 23:6:2-12 CLARKE, P.A. 1985b Fruits and seeds as food for Southern South Australian Aborigines. J. Anth. Soc. S.Aust, 23:9:9-22 CLARKE, P.A, 1986a Aboriginal use of plant exudates, foliage and fungi as food and water sources in Southern South Australia. J. Anth. Soc. 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