Australian Native Plants Society (Australia)
Newsletters and Reports
Regular newsletters are emailed several times per year to record activities and experiences of Group members into cultivation issues in various climatic zones, propagation methods, natural occurrences of different species and information on Group meetings and excursions. The newsletters often include recipes using Australian food plants.
The Group has also produced reports documenting potentially useful Australian food plants.
The Group’s newsletters and reports are provided here as an archive (Note: These are in pdf format and will require a PDF Reader to view them. Free readers include Foxit Reader and Adobe Acrobat Reader).
No newsletters were produced between 2012 and 2015 while the Study Group was in recess.
View Newsletters and Reports
Introductory Brochure
This 2-page brochure includes a list of plants to help in the creation of a great ‘Bush Tucker Garden’.
The list of plants has been compiled from the collective experience of Study Group members to help in the selection of some bushfood that will grow well in most soil types.
Although compiled from experiences of growing conditions in Queensland, the list should also be useful in other tropical and sub-tropical areas.
View Brochure
Food Plant Resources
The use of edible Australian plants in gardens has become popular in recent years and many specialist nurseries now include a variety of edible species in their stock lists. There are a number of resources available that will assist in growing these plants successfully, including books, journals and numerous online sites.
Books:
- Cherikoff, V and Isaacs, J (1997), The Bush Food Handbook, Ti Tree Press, Australia
- Isaacs, J (1989), Bush Food: Aboriginal Food and Herbal Medicine, New Holland Publishing Australia Pty Ltd
- Kulek, George (2016): Kimberley Bush Food – Comprehensive guide to edible plants in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia, Blurb Books
- Low, T (1991), Wild Food Plants of Australia, Harper Collins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
- Low, T (1992), Bush Tucker: Australia’s Wild Food Harvest, Angus & Robertson, Sydney
- Smith, K and Smith, I (1999), Grow Your Own Bushfoods, New Holland Publishing Australia Pty Ltd
Journals:
Several issues of the Society’s journal Australian Plants are particularly useful for those interested in Australian food plants. Back issues of Australian Plants have been digitised and can be searched and viewed online. Searching these for a particular plant may find useful references.
- Vol 19 No.151 June 1997; Australia’s Native Food Industry
- Vol 19 No.153 December 1997; Rainforest plants for horticulture and Bush Tucker
- Vol 24 No.192 September 2007; Indigenous Food Plants and Cultural Connections
- Vol 28 No.228 Spring 2016; Growing Australian native bush food.
- Vol 28 No.229 Summer 2016/17; Central Australian Bushfoods
Internet:
- Australian Bushfoods Magazine
- Australian Macadamia Society
- Australian Native Foods: Plant Profiles. This old CSIRO site is still available via the Internet Archive
- Bush Tucker Shop – commercial site
- Edible Native Succulents
- Outback Chef – commercial site with lots of information and recipes
- Traditional uses of Australian native plants – bibliography prepared by the Australian National Botanic Gardens
- West Australian Nut & Tree Crop Association Archive
ANPSA’s former online magazine ‘Australian Plants online’ included several articles on native food plants:
- Australian Limes
- Australian Native Poisonous Plants
- Aboriginal Uses of Plants Around Sydney
- Back to the Future: Where Now for Bush Foods?
- Bush Food Species for Temperate Regions
- Bush Food Species for Temperate and Cool Climates
- Capricornia Cuisine: Bush Tucker in Central Queensland
- Edible Acacias
- Edible Plants
- Queensland Raspberries
- Our Wild Foods to the World
- Rotten Cheesefruit?…or Great Morinda??