Quandongs add flavour to garden’s bush tucker
THEY may be only a relatively small plant, but the six Desert Quandongs which arrived at the St George Bush Tucker Garden recently have made a big impression on volunteer Peter Goodwin.
Mr Goodwin has been waiting two years to source the plants from Perry’s Nursery, in Adelaide, and when they arrived on site earlier this month he wasted little time in getting them into the ground with help from Goondir Clinic manager Kelvin Duiker, Kamilaroi elder Jim Troutman and Mayor Samantha O’Toole.
The quandong is outback Australia’s favourite wild fruit with Aboriginals relishing its scarlet acidic pulp, which is high in vitamin C.
Mr Goodwin said the plant was hard to propagate, which was the main reason for the delay in its arrival.
Getting the quandong planted is another forward step in the development of the garden, which is located on a 1.5acre site next to the St George Heritage Centre and between Victoria Street and St George Terrace.
The long-term vision is to develop a coherent space for education, conservation and cultural value by dividing the site into a series of zones including a naturalised wetland zone, koala habitat and pollinator area, plants for food and medicine zone, plants for textiles zone, plants for tools zone, yarning circle and indigenous art works zone.
It is envisaged the site will become a place where the broader community will be able to also learn about bush tucker, supported with interpretative signage designed by local Aboriginal artist Gordon Lister.
“We will (eventually) produce food and medicines and be able to teach people what they (the
plants) are and want they can do,” Mr Goodwin said.
Mr Troutman said he believed the entire community would benefit from having a site which
highlighted the bush food and medicines of the local Aboriginal community.
Mayor Samantha O’Toole admitted some people might feel the project was progressing slowly, but Council remained committed to its vision.
“Over the last couple of years the drought has not been supportive of our endeavours but Council is confident that the efforts of Peter and his small team will begin to show some real progress over coming months,” she said.