Using Natural Resources

“The area is culturally very very significant and is one of the last gathering, meeting and camping locations for Nyangbul people. Any remaining areas with natural bush and vegetation are important and can still be used for food and resource gathering”. Marcus Ferguson 2014

“The kids would explore in the sand hills for berries and this succulent plant called pigface and they would catch turtles in the nearby lagoon. After cyclones up north, we often found coconuts washed up on the beach. The kids would get excited over seeing coconuts.” Aunty Sandra Bolt 2007

Abundant plant life

For Aboriginal people the abundance of certain coastal plants is highly valued. Two such plants you can see along this path are pigface and pandanus.

Pigface is a fleshy ground cover of the dunes that has dark red fruit and purple flowers most of the year. Every part of the plant is edible and it also has medicinal uses.

The tough leaves of the pandanus [below] were used for baskets while the basketball sized fruits, made up of between 40 and 200 segments, could be eaten after careful preparation.

“A very appetising bread was made from nuts growing on the coastal headlands, and in season when ripe were ground up between heavy stones. “The pulp was then placed in running water for six weeks or so, and the resultant paste when cooked made a really splendid bread. “It resembles arrowroot in smell and was eagerly sought after by the whites when rations ran short.” Reminiscences from Ballina as told by early European settler, Jas Ainsworth in 1922