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Published by CompNet Systems on

Sandalwood tree andBush Medicine

Traditional Martu knowledge of plant properties was encyclopedic, and saw plants used for purposes as diverse as food resources, carving implements, tobacco, firewood, shelter construction, and bush medicines. Depicted in this work are types of bush medicines, their habitats, and the processes used in their preparation. 

Physical ailments treated with plant based poltices, body washes, drinks, rubs and pastes included fever, congestion, headache, skin sores, aching limbs, and digestive problems. More serious health issues were often treated with a combination of bush medicine and maparn (magic healing/ healer).

Plants still prepared to make bush medicines today include warlji (desert bloodwood), kalpari (Dysphania Kalpari) and nayju (green crumbweed), which can be soaked in a water solution to make a skin wash. One of the most popular types of bush medicine still used today is wanta (red sap), collected from the mijarrpa (bloodwood) tree and brewed as a tea to ease heart pains and other body aches.

Categories: Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

Name: Noreena Kadibil

Language: Putijarra

Community: Parnngurr

Biography:

"My country is Kajarra between wells 6 and 9 on the Canning Stock Route. This is my dad’s country and my grandfather’s and grandmother’s country. I only paint my grandfather’s and grandmother’s country, that’s our traditional lands. Jigalong belongs to the mob. I have other country but there’s other people mixed up in it. Mum was born in Savoury Creek. My grandmother used to live in Jigalong before Old Jigalong got started. I paint pictures of my country to keep it safe and to show my kids how to look after it." "I grew up in Wiluna and on Lake Violet Station. We moved to Jigalong in 1969 after my father passed away. I moved to Parnngurr with five children in 1984 (Murphy was the youngest), there was too much humbug in town, it’s a quieter place out here." Noreena was taught by her parents and grandparents about her traditional lands and how to survive in the bush. She has passed on this knowledge to her kids and grandkids as well as teaching them how to paint. Her mother Daisy had been taken from her family as a child and placed in the Moore River settlement. The film Rabbit Proof Fence tells Daisy's story.

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