Mayi: Bush Tucker Recipes (page 5)

likkarr (gum from parrkan (smoke tree), kijjiparraji (ghost gum) and waljji (bloodwood) and nurrkku (snappy gum); Eucalyptus pruinosa, Corymbia flavescens, Corymbia opaca and Eucalyptus leucophloia)

This gum is bush medicine. You squash the sap then boil it and it turns soapy and reddish-coloured. It's put on sick people - if you have a sore ear, you stick it close to the ear, or else pour it into the ear. You can also put it in the bath. It's medicine fir scabies, sores (especially weeping sores), boils and rashes, it acts like an antiseptic.

J. Nixon Nakkamarra and N. Nelson Nakkamarra, Bush medicine and plants, Papulu Apparr-Karu Language Centre, Tennant Creek; and 'Wangangu: bush medicine' work organised by B. Foster Nangali and Jane Simpson with E. Graham Nakkamarra, D. Dawson Nangali, Papula Aparr-Kari Language Centre, 1994. Photo A. Collins

manaji (bush potato; Ipomoea costata)

When the bush potato flower turns to cotton and fly in the air like cobwebs, you know it's time to dig for the manaji. It's a lot of hard work digging up a bush potato, but worth the effort as they are delicious when cooked in hot coals out in the bush. The plant is a trailing vine with heart-shaped leaves and purple flowers. You look for a crack in the ground to know if the tuber is big enough to dig for. If you see the crack, start digging. A crow bar is a useful tool as the soil is so hard, but also because if you thump the ground and hear a hallow sound, that is where the tuber will be. Brush off the dirt and bury the bush potato in the coals of the fire until you smell that it's cooked (you can wrap it in foil if you don't like the charcoal).

A. Morrison Nangali and Julakari Arts. First printed in Barkly News Pictorial, May 1998. Photo by G. Warner

maanjani (snake vine; Tinospora smilacina)

Maanjani climbs up trees. It's used for tying things. You tie it around your head if you have a headache, or use it as a bandage if you have a cut or you've been bitten by a snake, to stop the poison.

Wangangu: bush medicine work organised by B. Foster Nangali and Jane Simpson with E. Graham Nakkamarra, D. Dawson Nangali, Papulu Apparr-Kari Language Centre, 1994.