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Alright, guys. What's going on?
Welcome to this episode of Aussie
English. This is an Aussie Fact
episode, where I am going to be
teaching you all about bush medicine
or, at least, I'm going to go through
a little bit about bush medicine what
it is and then also talk about ten of
the most popular most famous bush
medicines.

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Alright. So, bush medicine is
traditional medicine as it is known
and used by Indigenous Australians.
And according to the W.H.O, The World
Health Organization, traditional
medicine is defined as the sum of the
total knowledge skills and practices
based on the theories beliefs and
experiences indigenous to different
cultures, whether explicable or not,
used in the maintenance of health as
well as in the prevention, diagnosis,
improvement, and treatment of
physical and mental illness, right?
So, medicine.

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Bush medicine includes the
traditional medicines that are used
by all indigenous people or clans
across Australia. It is also linked
to the holistic world view of
Indigenous Australians in such a way
that the interaction between the
emotional, spiritual, physical and
social aspects is considered vital in
attaining and maintaining good
health. So, generally speaking,
Australian bush medicine is made from
plant materials, like bark, leaves,
seeds, berries, however, animal
products are sometimes used as well.
A primary component of traditional
medicine is herbal medicine and this
is where natural plant substances are
used to prevent or treat illnesses.

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In modern times, many of these herbal
medicines have been co-opted by
modern medicine including things like
tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil and
we'll go through both of these.
They're on the list at the end.
Considering the vast number of
Aboriginal groups in Australia, not
to mention the multitude of different
environments spread across this
continent, you know, from rainforest
to desert, the remedies vary from
clan to clan, right? You're not going
to have the same bush medicine across
the entire diversity of Australian
indigenous cultures. It's going to
vary from place to place.

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Thus, there is no single set of
Australian bush medicine, the same
way that there's no single Aboriginal
culture or Aboriginal language. In
fact, Aboriginal is kind of a really
broad term for what is in reality
probably 250 or more different clans
different groups of indigenous people
in Australia. So, I've got a lot of
the information today from a website
called Australia Geographic and I'll
link Australian Geographic in the
transcript. They are an amazing
organisation and website and
magazine. If you guys are into
Australian wildlife, Australian
plants and everything else Australia,
ok? So, definitely check out
Australian Geographic, whether it's
online or whether you go into a
newsagency somewhere and grab a
magazine.

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Alright, so the top 10 different bush
medicines: lemon grasses, so the
leaves, stems, and roots of native
lemon grasses can be made into a
drink in order to treat things like
diarrhoea and coughs, sore throats
and colds. You can also apply it to
the skin to treat things like rashes
and sores and you can make a root
poultice mixture, which can be
applied to the ears to treat ear
aches. I think that's kind of like if
you were to make a chewed up kind of
ball of the roots, right? So, recent
studies have found that the herb has
properties that relieve headaches and
migraines and they suggest that it
can cure much the same way that
aspirin cures.

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Number two: emu bush. Indigenous
people from coastal areas of
Australia value emu bush for both
medicinal and ceremonial purposes.
Its leaves can be used as a decoction
for sores and wounds and an infusion
for colds, headaches, chest pains and
diarrhoea treatment. It can also be
smoked to help create a sterile
environment for newborn babies and
healing new mothers.

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Number three: the Billy Goat plum or
the Kakadu Plum. So, the Kakadu Plum
is a fruit that's native to the
Northern Territory, as you probably
know by the name Kakadu, and it's
known to be the world's highest
source of vitamin C, an essential
nutrient, rich in antioxidants and
one in which will save you from the
ravages of scurvy. So, this is found
in most veggies and fruits,
especially things like lemon and
oranges, you guys will know what
vitamin C is. So, Vitamin C is a
valuable dietary supplement and is
also involved in tissue repair and
building collagen, which play a role
in wound healing and anti-aging, and
besides having an incredibly elevated
level of vitamin C, the Kakadu Plum
is also rich in iron and vitamin A.

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Number four: the kangaroo Apple. And
after reading this article and
learning a bit more about the
kangaroo Apple, I realised my mum and
dad have a kangaroo Apple in the back
of their yard. So, the kangaroo Apple
plant is a natural anti-inflammatory
steroid, which assists the production
of cortisone and can be used for
treating achy joints and wounds and
it also encourages skin rejuvenation
on scarring pigmentation and aging,
but be careful, unripe fruits are
actually poisonous. This is probably
why mom and dad don't use the
kangaroo Apple in the backyard and
they just leave it alone.

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Number five: the Gumby Gumby plant.
The Gumby Gumby plant is a small bush
with a little star shaped flowers.
The flowers are yellow in colour and
they have fruit that are yellow or
orange skinned. It is found
throughout the more arid regions of
Australia and it's perhaps the most
potent yet versatile indigenous
medicine. It has a large number of
traditional medicinal applications
from the treatment of coughs and
colds, to eczema and even helps
lactation in breastfeeding women. And
recent scientific work examining the
benefits of the Gumby Gumby plant
have found that it boasts a wide
range of benefits including being an
anti-pruritic, anti-viral, a
detoxifier, a regulator of blood
pressure and a booster of the immune
system. There you go.

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Number Six: eucalyptus. The
eucalyptus is a well renowned
Australian icon, right? The gum tree.
But did you know its oil is also
today found in lollies, mouthwash and
is even used for aromatic purposes
more so than only for medicinal
purposes? However, its traditional
uses are where its real benefits are
found, which is natural pain relief
and fever reduction. It's a proven
anti-bacterial and also has analgesic
properties and, as a result, it can
treat things like colds and
respiratory problems, as well as
joint and muscle pain, dental health,
fungal infections and even wounds.
Its applications stretch even further
from the medicinal and culinary as
the potent scent produced from
eucalyptus oil is also a brilliant
natural insect repellent and, on a
side note, the oil is actually a
toxin that has been produced by the
eucalyptus plant to protect itself.
So, this is why koalas have such a
hard time digesting eucalyptus
leaves, because they have to deal
with the poison in the leaves and the
fact that they don't have much
nutrients in them.

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Number seven: the snake Vine. The
snake Vine is another incredible
anti-inflammatory and antiseptic
Indigenous bush medicine. Its leaves
and stems can be warmed and mashed
into a paste and applied topically
for arthritis pain in joints, as well
as in other inflammation from
injuries. You know, maybe you got a
bung shoulder or hip you can whack
this on them and hopefully it'll give
you some relief. The snake vine sap
can also be used as a broad spectrum
antiseptic.

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Number eight: Tea Tree. I love the
Tea Tree. The tea tree or paper bark
tree grows in sandy or clay soils
around swampy and seasonally wet
areas on the central eastern coast of
Australia since the 1920s. The Tea
Tree has been one of the most widely
known natural antiseptics in the
world and has been used as a
mainstream pharmaceutical since then.
Today, its oil is widely used as a
safe natural effective antiseptic
with proven anti-viral anti-bacterial
and even anti-fungal properties and
I've been using this since I was a
kid, my mum would always apply tea
tree oil to different scratches and
scrapes that I'd get as a kid or, you
know, if the cat scratched you or you
got a splinter, you'd always put tea
tree oil on there and you can put
some on your top lip under your nose
if you wanted to clear out a blocked
nose, so it's potent stuff.

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Number nine: the Umbrella Bush
wattle. The Umbrella Bush wattle is
used by indigenous people who soak
the wattle in water or boil it and
the decoction is used as a cough
medicine for sore throats and as a
remedy for dizziness and nerves and
anxiety.

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Last but not least we have number
ten: the Witchetty Grub and this is
the only fauna on the list of
predominantly floral medicine, the
Witchetty Grub. While a well renowned
bush tucker amongst Aborigines, the
Witchetty Grub is also a great bush
medicine. The creatures are a kind of
caterpillar or grub that live inside
of trees in the bark underneath it
and they range in size from about
five to 12 centimetres and
nutritionally the grubs are a great
source of protein and they're also
jam packed with good fats and vitamin
C. Despite being a great food, the
Witchetty Grub can be crushed up and
made into a paste and applied
externally in the treatment of burns
and open wounds as a seal that helps
the skin heal.

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So, there's a little whirlwind tour
of Indigenous bush medicine, guys.
Keep your eyes peeled for things like
tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil at
your local pharmacy or, you know,
your local supermarket like Woollies
or Coles as they are a must have in
any Aussie's medicine cabinet. So, I
hope you enjoyed this episode, guys!
Definitely dive in and try and learn
more about Australian indigenous
culture if you're Down Under because
the more I do it, the more I find it
more and more fascinating, right. It
is a never-ending source of
interesting material. Go and find out
about Indigenous culture.

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Anyway, until next week, guys! I hope
you have a ripper of a week, a ripper
of a night, a ripper of a day
wherever you guys are and I'll see
you soon. Peace.