Native Plants, Foods and Medicinal Elements
MLA Educational Series — Country, Healing, and Knowledge
Indigenous Plant Medicine in Victoria and Australia: Healing with Country
Introduction
For tens of thousands of years, Indigenous peoples across Australia have developed one of the world’s oldest continuous systems of medicine — an integrated science of plants, fire, water, and spirit. In Victoria, healing traditions grew from close observation of the land and its changing seasons. The eucalyptus, lomandra, native mint, wattle, and Old Man’s Weed provided medicine, while fire and smoke were used for cleansing, protection, and emotional balance.
Among the Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, Taungurung, Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Gunaikurnai, and Yorta Yorta peoples, healing was not separate from Country — it was Country. Plants, soil, water, and wind each carried their own form of spirit medicine. Elders and healers understood that physical sickness was often linked to spiritual or environmental imbalance, and restoring wellbeing required renewing harmony between body, community, and land (Atkinson 2002; Clarke 2008).
Although colonisation disrupted these systems through displacement and cultural suppression, Traditional Owners continue to revitalise their medicinal heritage today — not as nostalgia, but as active science, healing, and truth-telling.
Healing on Wadawurrung Country
On Wadawurrung Country, which stretches from the You Yangs and Ballarat to the Barwon River, Bellarine Peninsula, and Breamlea coast, plant medicine was part of everyday life. The volcanic plains and coastal dunes were rich in diverse flora — eucalyptus, she-oak, wattle, and native grasses — each with specific healing and ceremonial uses.
Eucalyptus leaves were boiled for steam inhalation, easing chest infections and sinus pain. Paperbark (Melaleuca) and tea-tree oils were used for skin ailments and wounds, while native mint was brewed for headaches and digestion.
The Barwon River and nearby wetlands also provided medicinal plants along the edges of water, such as Old Man’s Weed (Centipeda cunninghamii) and reeds, which were used in poultices for inflammation or eye irritations.
Wadawurrung Elders used smoke healing as both medicine and ceremony — cleansing camps after illness, protecting children, and preparing for spiritual renewal. Leaves of eucalyptus, wattle, and she-oak were burned in small bundles, with each plant chosen for a distinct effect:
Eucalyptus for clearing infection and spirit.
Cherry Ballart for emotional calm and grief.
She-oak (Allocasuarina verticillata) for strength, grounding, and recovery after sickness.
Wattle for renewal, used after mourning or during childbirth.
Smoke carried messages between people and ancestors, between body and Country. It was believed that the spirit of the plant travelled through the smoke, cleansing what could not be touched by hand (Clarke 2008; Museums Victoria 2023).
Deep History of Indigenous Medicine
Archaeological and oral records indicate that Aboriginal healing systems in Australia extend beyond 50,000 years, rooted in ecological observation and spiritual law (Clarke 2008). Traditional medicine did not separate chemistry from ceremony — it recognised that matter and energy, spirit and biology, are intertwined.
Healing ceremonies combined plant medicines, smoke, song, and bodywork. Healers worked with rhythm and vibration as much as with plants — aligning the person’s energy field (or spirit essence) with that of the environment. As Dr. Judy Atkinson (2002) notes, this was not simply treatment, but “reconnection,” restoring relationship to self, kin, and Country.
This knowledge evolved through empirical testing: observing which plants healed animals, how seasons changed plant potency, and how combinations affected the body. It was, and remains, a living form of environmental pharmacology.
Medicinal Plants of Victoria
Eucalypts (Eucalyptus spp.)
Crushed leaves were inhaled for colds, and red sap (kino) was applied to wounds. The antimicrobial oils (cineole, terpenes) reduce bacteria and inflammation — properties now validated in Western pharmacology (Clarke 2008). Eucalyptus smoke was also central to purification, its rising scent symbolising renewal.
Tea-tree (Melaleuca alternifolia, Leptospermum spp.)
Leaves infused in water or crushed directly onto wounds provided natural antiseptics. The oils’ phenolic compounds inhibit fungal and bacterial growth. In many Kulin Nations, tea-tree was also burned in cleansing fires or placed under bedding for respiratory relief (RBGV 2023).
Lomandra (Lomandra longifolia)
Roots boiled in water relieved stomach pain and infections; leaves were chewed or used for poultices. Lomandra’s versatility — as medicine, weaving material, and ceremonial fibre — reflected Indigenous ideas of health as balance between practical and spiritual life.
Cherry Ballart (Exocarpos cupressiformis)
A semi-parasitic tree symbolising interdependence, Cherry Ballart’s fruit was a tonic, and heated leaves reduced inflammation. Its smoke calmed anxiety and sorrow, especially during funerary rites or after trauma (Museums Victoria 2023).
Native Mint (Mentha australis)
Infused tea soothed colds and aided digestion. Its aromatic oils, released in steam, were inhaled during cleansing ceremonies to clear the mind.
Old Man’s Weed (Centipeda cunninghamii)
Applied to skin and respiratory conditions, this herb remains of pharmacological interest for its anti-inflammatory compounds (Kellerman et al. 2005). In Victorian wetlands, it was a common treatment for rheumatism, swelling, and asthma.
Wattles (Acacia spp.)
The bark, high in tannins, was boiled for sore throats and diarrhoea; roasted seeds restored energy after illness. Symbolically, the wattle’s flowering after fire embodied healing after destruction — a metaphor for renewal that still guides cultural fire practice (DEECA 2022).
Smoke Healing and Fire Medicine
Across Victoria, smoke healing was among the most important ceremonial and medicinal practices. Each plant’s smoke carried unique healing energies:
Eucalyptus smoke: Cleansing illness, releasing grief, and protecting from harmful spirits.
Wattle smoke: Used after emotional turmoil or major ceremony, representing new beginnings.
She-oak smoke: Used to strengthen body and spirit after childbirth or injury; known for its calming vibration.
Paperbark smoke: Gentle cleansing for infants and the elderly.
Native grasses and reeds: Burned in small fires to soothe the spirit and invite ancestral guidance.
Healers used the smoke to “brush” over a person’s body or direct it to the heart, head, or feet depending on the imbalance. In some communities, cool embers were also applied near the skin to stimulate warmth and energy flow — an Indigenous form of heat therapy.
Smoke healing was not separate from plant medicine — it worked in tandem. For example, eucalyptus or cherry ballart smoke might be followed by herbal infusions or massages with emu fat infused with wattle gum or mint leaves (Clarke 2008; Atkinson 2002).
Other Healing Techniques in Victorian Communities
Victorian Aboriginal healers (often known as marrnggitj or ngangkari) employed a range of interconnected techniques:
Massage and touch therapy: Healers used hands and stone tools to remove “bad spirit” or pain from the body.
Hot stone therapy: Heated stones were wrapped in bark and placed along muscles and joints to relieve aches, similar to modern thermal treatments.
Herbal poultices: Crushed leaves and bark applied to wounds or bites.
Oil and fat healing: Emu, kangaroo, and eel fats infused with herbs were rubbed on skin to soothe dryness, burns, or arthritis.
Water immersion and sound: Some ceremonies included bathing in running water while singing, symbolising the washing away of sickness and rebalancing the body’s rhythm.
These practices reflected a sophisticated understanding of anatomy, chemistry, and energy — a complete system of environmental medicine long before Western science recognised its complexity (Clarke 2008; DEECA 2022).
Colonisation and the Loss of Knowledge
Colonisation profoundly disrupted Indigenous medicine in Victoria. Removal from Country severed access to plant species and disrupted ecological knowledge cycles. Healers were dismissed or persecuted, and mission systems criminalised ceremonies and plant gathering (Atkinson 2002).
At the same time, colonial industries profited from Aboriginal discoveries such as eucalyptus and tea-tree oil, often without acknowledgment or benefit to Traditional Owners. Land clearing further erased medicinal ecosystems, contributing to both cultural and ecological loss (Museums Victoria 2023; RBGV 2023).
Yet knowledge survived — held in memory, story, and language, waiting for the land and people to reconnect.
Contemporary Revival and Scientific Collaboration
Today, Traditional Owners and Elders are leading the resurgence of bush medicine in Victoria.
Community gardens in Geelong, Gippsland, and Ballarat now grow native mint, lomandra, and Old Man’s Weed. Wadawurrung and Wurundjeri Elders conduct smoke ceremonies for healing and education, teaching young people the correct ways to gather and use plants respectfully.
Collaborations between Traditional Owners and scientists have uncovered new biomedical applications of traditional plants, confirming what Elders have long known — that Indigenous medicine is both cultural and scientific. The Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Museums Victoria, and DEECA now work with communities to ensure plant use honours Cultural Authority, biodiversity protection, and intellectual property rights (Kellerman et al. 2005; DEECA 2022).
The Future of Healing with Country
Revitalising Indigenous plant medicine depends on four enduring principles:
Cultural Authority: Knowledge must remain led and guided by Traditional Owners.
Ecological Care: Healthy Country ensures healthy people.
Intergenerational Learning: Youth must inherit both plant names and plant meanings.
Respectful Collaboration: Traditional and Western sciences can work together — without appropriation.
Healing with Country is not only about plants — it is about remembering that health is reciprocal. When Country is sick, people are sick. When Country heals, so do its communities.
Conclusion
Indigenous plant medicine in Victoria expresses a living science of connection — where health, ecology, and spirit form one circle. From eucalyptus vapours that clear the lungs to cherry ballart smoke that soothes the soul, these healing traditions reveal a chemistry of care as old as time. Colonisation fractured this bond, yet the plants still grow, and their wisdom still breathes through the smoke.
Revitalised through Elders, healers, and new generations, Indigenous medicine continues to teach balance: that healing Country and healing people are the same act — one of remembrance, respect, and renewal.
References (Harvard Style)
Atkinson, J 2002, Trauma Trails: Recreating Song Lines, Spinifex Press, Melbourne.
Clarke, PA 2008, Aboriginal Plant Collectors: Botanists and Australian Aboriginal People in the Nineteenth Century, Rosenberg Publishing, Sydney.
DEECA Victoria 2022, Protecting Victoria’s Biodiversity – Traditional Plant Use, Department of Energy, Environment & Climate Action, Melbourne.
Kellerman, T et al. 2005, ‘Pharmacological potential of Centipeda cunninghamii’, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, vol. 96, pp. 177–185.
Museums Victoria 2023, Aboriginal Plant Use and Healing Collections, Museums Victoria, Melbourne.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria 2023, Aboriginal Plant Use and Knowledge, RBGV, Melbourne.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (22 October 2025)
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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.