Barkindji man shares traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in Menindee region

To most travellers passing through Menindee, the bushland along the Darling-Baaka River is a striking outback landscape, abundant with wildflowers and greenery.

But where others see a stretch of native scrub, Barkindji and Malyangapa man Dave Doyle sees something more valuable — a living medicine cabinet, teeming with plants whose healing properties have been used by his family for generations.

There's emu bush, which can help with wounds and headaches; native lemongrass to soothe a sore throat, and river mint, which makes for a soothing tea and helps with digestion.

A particularly wet season in Far West New South Wales has seen flora in the region flourish in numbers not seen for decades, according to Mr Doyle.

"It was probably the 90s or maybe early 2000s last time we had a season like this," Mr Doyle explains to tour guests who admire the flowers from the back seat of his ute, which he occasionally pulls over to take a closer look.

Mr Doyle's cultural tours depart from Broken Hill and traverse the Darling-Baaka River and Menindee Lakes, sharing cultural knowledge of medicinal and edible plants that Barkindji people have utilised for thousands of years.

The recently released field guide, Barkindji Edible & Medicinal Plants, a collaboration between Barkindji community members and friends, encourages young people to get out into nature and learn more about the plants around them.

On a recent tour, the guide demonstrated the kind of knowledge he is trying to pass on to younger generations.

"We actually wrote it for people of teenage years to be able to understand, rather than something a little bit more technical, hoping that kids will have a look at it and get interested in plants," he says.

Thousands of years sustained by natives

Along Menindee Road, he pulls over to the road's shoulder, climbing out into a field of lilac Darling peas that have sprouted in the red dirt, seemingly from nowhere.

While hunting was a big part of Barkindji culture, Mr Doyle says that plants were often more vital to Aboriginal diets throughout history.

"For us along the river, plants, vegetables that we collect, are probably like a main staple, more so than proteins that people tend to associate with Aboriginal people: kangaroos, emus, goannas, that kind of thing," he says.

"There's so many uses like medicines, and a lot of the plants also are fibrous, so making string for twine nets, fishing lines."

Mr Doyle first became interested in learning about native medicinal and edible plants during COVID, when supermarkets often ran out of fresh produce.

"Through COVID, people were having trouble sourcing food a lot of time, and we actually have a lot around us, but we forget it's there or don't know what's edible and what's not," he says.

His interest in native plants has since extended beyond cultural tours and he also runs a catering business focused on native plants and traditional bush tucker.

In Kinchega National Park, along the Darling-Baaka River, he hosts a morning tea for tour guests featuring locally-sourced native plants.

The menu includes quandong and finger lime tarts and river mint tea — the latter picked on a walk along the river while the kettle boils.

He picks Warrigal greens, handing the leaves around the group for tasting.

"Warrigal greens are actually comparable to English spinach, and we don't have to pay for it, we just go and collect it off the edge of the river."

A garden medicine cabinet

Mr Doyle, also hopes the field guide will inspire people to plant native species in their own gardens.

"So if we need them, they're actually right there for us to use, as well as they look really beautiful," he says.

"I reckon every time a house is built, we should be putting natives in there, especially for Aboriginal people.

"And we should be planting things that don't need much water, they don't need any fertilisers or insecticides.

"It would be great if you've got a rash or a sore and you can just go out in the backyard, pick it and use it."