Nardoo

Nardoo and the Water Foods of Victoria: The Aquatic Harvests of Indigenous Country

Long before colonisation, the rivers, lakes, and wetlands of Victoria were thriving food systems — living pantries managed through deep ecological knowledge, ceremony, and care. Among the most significant of these aquatic foods was nardoo (Marsilea drummondii), a native fern that grows in ephemeral wetlands and floodplains. Together with water ribbons, cumbungi, freshwater algae, and reeds, nardoo sustained communities for tens of thousands of years, particularly the Wadawurrung, Yorta Yorta, Gunditjmara, and Gunaikurnai peoples.

These foods were not simply gathered — they were cultivated, harvested, and shared according to cultural law, reflecting a profound understanding that water and life are inseparable. To eat from the wetlands was to honour the living pulse of Country.

Nardoo: The Water Fern of Survival and Ceremony

Botanical Overview

• Scientific name: Marsilea drummondii

• Common name: Nardoo

• Family: Marsileaceae (Water Clover Family)

• Habitat: Floodplains, claypans, and shallow wetlands that dry seasonally

• Distribution: Across inland and southern Australia, including the Murray–Darling Basin, Barwon River plains, and Victorian volcanic wetlands

Nardoo is a small, clover-like aquatic fern that produces spore capsules (sporocarps) which remain dormant in dry mud for years, germinating when floods return.
Its life cycle mirrors the rhythms of Country — sleeping through drought, awakening with rain — making it both a symbol of resilience and a practical survival food.

Cultural and Nutritional Importance

For Indigenous peoples across Victoria and beyond, nardoo was a staple grain-like food harvested during times of abundance or scarcity, depending on water cycles. The Wadawurrung, Yorta Yorta, and Wemba Wemba peoples gathered the hard sporocarps from drying wetlands and crushed them into fine meal using grinding stones. This powder was then mixed with water or roasted into cakes — a food similar in texture to damper, though made entirely from aquatic plants.

The process required both patience and knowledge:

• Sporocarps were collected after the floodwaters receded.

• They were roasted lightly to break down toxic enzymes.

• The seeds were pounded between stones into a fine flour.

• The meal was mixed with water or cooked over coals for a sustaining bread.

Proper preparation was essential; raw nardoo contains thiaminase, an enzyme that destroys vitamin B1 if eaten in excess (Gott 2019). Indigenous knowledge systems understood this instinctively — roasting and soaking neutralised the compound. When European explorers like Burke and Wills later tried to survive on unprepared nardoo, their ignorance proved fatal — a tragic example of lost cultural knowledge and respect for Country.

Nardoo and Law: Food as Ceremony

Nardoo was never simply sustenance — it was part of water law and spiritual renewal. For the Wadawurrung, the arrival of floodwater across the volcanic plains signalled a time of abundance. Nardoo ferns appeared alongside frogs, yabbies, and nesting waterbirds — the web of life returning. Gathering nardoo was accompanied by stories, songs, and teachings about balance: never taking all, always leaving the first and last of each plant to regenerate.

Among the Yorta Yorta people along the Murray (Dhungala) and Goulburn (Kaiela) rivers, nardoo harvesting was woven into seasonal calendars that also guided eel and fish harvests. Communities gathered near the Barmah–Millewa Forest wetlands, grinding nardoo meal communally, cooking it in clay-lined pits, and sharing it during large gatherings and ceremony.

Food was inseparable from connection to water spirits, including ancestral beings linked to the creation of rivers and floodplains. Eating from the wetlands was an act of renewal — a reaffirmation that human life flowed with the same rhythm as water.

Other Aquatic Foods of Victoria

While nardoo provided energy and sustenance, many other water foods enriched Indigenous diets and ceremonies across Victoria.

Water Ribbons (Triglochin procerum)

• A root vegetable found in slow-moving waters, prized for its starchy tubers.

• Dug from creek beds and wetlands using digging sticks, the tubers were roasted or eaten raw.

• Sweet and mild in flavour, they provided carbohydrates similar to potatoes.

• Wadawurrung and Yorta Yorta families collected them from lagoons and backwaters, often sharing the harvest in spring and early summer.

Cumbungi / Bulrush (Typha domingensis, T. orientalis)

• Provided edible shoots, starchy rhizomes, and flower spikes rich in pollen and fibre.

• The white core of the shoots was eaten fresh or roasted, while the roots were ground into meal.

• Fibres were used for weaving mats, baskets, and shelter walls.

• Cumbungi grew abundantly along the Barwon River, Lake Connewarre, and Moorabool wetlands, forming key habitats for fish and bird species.

• The plant’s many uses reflected the Indigenous principle that “everything in the wetland has a purpose.”

Algae and Water Plants

• Freshwater algae and blue-green mats were observed, skimmed, and used in small amounts as nutrient-rich supplements or as feed for eels and waterfowl in aquaculture systems like Budj Bim.

• Coastal peoples also used seaweeds (e.g., Ulva, Laminaria) as food wrappers, salt substitutes, and medicine for skin or digestive ailments.

• Algae played a key role in sustaining aquatic food webs that fed larger species central to human diets — eels, mussels, and fish.

Freshwater Mussels and Crayfish

• Harvested from shallow rivers and lagoons, cooked in shell heaps (middens) that remain sacred archaeological sites today.

• Their presence indicated clean, flowing water — essential for both ecological and spiritual wellbeing.

Aquatic Engineering and Ecological Knowledge

The Gunditjmara, Wadawurrung, and Yorta Yorta peoples built intricate systems of fish traps, stone channels, and eel weirs that functioned like aquatic farms.
These systems were not only technological achievements but expressions of lawful coexistence with water — ensuring constant flow, oxygenation, and renewal.

The Budj Bim aquaculture complex in western Victoria, now UNESCO World Heritage–listed, demonstrates this knowledge at a monumental scale. Similarly, the Barmah Lakes and Lower Goulburn floodplains were managed with controlled fire, seasonal harvesting, and spiritual ceremony — maintaining fertility in a living mosaic of land and water.

These practices demonstrate what modern ecology calls “integrated catchment management,” yet Indigenous peoples perfected it millennia ago through story, observation, and continuity.

Healing and Medicine from Water Plants

Wetland plants also served as medicine:

• Eucalyptus and cumbungi leaves were burned in smoke healing to cleanse infections.

• Water mint (Mentha australis) and native pennywort (Centella asiatica) were brewed for fevers and digestive relief.

• Mud and clay from sacred waterholes were used in cooling poultices for pain and inflammation.

The combination of mineral-rich mud, plant oils, and healing smoke created holistic water medicine, binding physical and spiritual cleansing. Healers understood that water plants did not merely treat symptoms — they restored balance between body, spirit, and Country.

Colonisation and Loss of Water Knowledge

Colonisation devastated Victoria’s aquatic ecosystems. Wetlands were drained for agriculture, rivers were dammed and diverted, and introduced species like carp and willows transformed water systems. The cultural practice of burning around wetlands was banned, allowing reeds to choke waterways and reducing biodiversity.

For the Yorta Yorta and Wadawurrung, the loss of wetlands meant the loss of traditional food sources, ceremony sites, and ecological education systems. The nardoo plains along the Loddon and Moorabool Rivers dried out, while introduced cattle trampled water ribbons and cumbungi beds. Despite this, the knowledge survived through oral tradition, storytelling, and renewal projects that continue to this day.

Revival and Cultural Renewal

Across Victoria, Indigenous communities are restoring water Country and replanting aquatic foods as acts of healing and sovereignty. Projects led by Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation, Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, and Gunditjmara Traditional Owners involve:

• Replanting nardoo, cumbungi, and water ribbons in wetland rehabilitation zones.

• Teaching young people to identify edible plants and restore water flows.

• Re-establishing cultural burns and seasonal harvest ceremonies.

• Partnering with universities and environmental agencies to integrate traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) with modern hydrology and conservation science.

These initiatives honour the truth that water is not a resource — it is a relative, and caring for it ensures the continuity of all life.

Scientific and Cultural Insights

From both scientific and cultural perspectives, the native cherry is a remarkable plant that bridges ecology and spirituality. Botanically, it belongs to the sandalwood family and is semi-parasitic, connecting its roots to neighbouring plants to share water and nutrients — a living example of interdependence in nature. As a food source, its sweet red stem, often called the “cherry,” was eaten fresh in summer and is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. In medicine, the leaves, bark, and smoke were used to treat respiratory ailments, cleanse wounds, and purify spaces during healing ceremonies. Ecologically, the native cherry contributes to nutrient cycling, stabilises soil, and regenerates quickly after fire, helping restore balance to the landscape. Culturally, it stands as a symbol of reciprocity, renewal, and spiritual transition, often planted near sacred sites and burial grounds to honour the cycles of life and connection between people and Country.

Wadawurrung and Yorta Yorta Country: The Spirit of Water

On Wadawurrung Country, water plants like nardoo, cumbungi, and water ribbons marked the flow of life from the Otway highlands to the Lake Connewarre wetlands and Breamlea coast. These were places of abundance, ceremony, and rest — where water spirits were honoured, and food was shared under the laws of Country.

Further north, on Yorta Yorta Country, the Dhungala (Murray River) and Kaiela (Goulburn River) sustained vast wetland forests. Here, the flow of water was read like a storybook: the call of birds, the rise of frogs, the flowering of water ribbons — each a verse in the song of life. To eat from these waters was to remember one’s place in the story of creation.

Conclusion

Nardoo and the water foods of Victoria reveal the sophistication and spirituality of Indigenous land–water management. Far from being passive foragers, the Wadawurrung, Yorta Yorta, and other Nations were custodians of vast aquatic economies — engineers, scientists, and storytellers of the living wetland.

Reviving these foods is not simply an act of environmental repair, but of cultural and spiritual healing. Each nardoo fern sprouting from ancient floodplain soil is a testament to endurance — the resilience of both Country and people.

References

Atkinson, J 2002, Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines, Spinifex Press, Melbourne.
Clarke, PA 2009, Australian Aboriginal Ethnobotany: An Overview, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
DEECA Victoria 2022, Traditional Plant Use and Biodiversity in Victoria, Department of Energy, Environment & Climate Action, Melbourne.
Gott, B 2019, The Yam Daisy: A History of Aboriginal Plant Use in Victoria, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Howitt, AW 1904, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, Macmillan, London.
Museums Victoria 2023, Aboriginal Plant and Wetland Collections, Museums Victoria, Melbourne.
UNESCO 2019, Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, World Heritage Centre, Paris.
Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation 2021, Dhungala and Kaiela Water Country Plan, YYNAC, Shepparton.

Written, Researched, and Directed by James Vegter (5 November 2025)
MLA — Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land, and community.
www.magiclandsalliance.org

Copyright MLA – 2025

Magic Lands Alliance acknowledges the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay respect to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples’ communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of their respective communities.