We encountered other sacred places for the Ngemba people at Byrock and Gundabooka. This is dry, stone country and it might look rather desolate, but look closer and there’s some fascinating stories tracing back millennia .... you just need to scratch the surface a bit!
Byrock is home to some important natural rock holes carved out of a large granite outcrop. It was an important source of water for the area particularly at times when the Mulga and Yanda creeks weren’t running. The Ngemba mythology is quite entrancing - see my Blog post October 2017 for more - hwheat8.blogspot.com and search for Byrock. You won’t be surprised to learn that what interested me we’re the plants and the diet of these stone country people. We think the country looks empty and inhospitable, but they had fruit such as quandongs, wild bananas, mistletoe, currant bush, wild plums, ‘Mulga apples’ (sweet edible galls produced by a small wasp larva) and bush oranges. They ate wild spinach, yams and reeds, and seeds from native grasses, kurrajong, wilga and mulga trees. And there was a good source of meat - kangaroo and wallabies, pigeons and bush turkey, snakes and tree goanna, and crayfish. Rich rich!
Then we set off for the Gundabooka National Park, part of the lands of the Ngemba people.
This is Byrock Rock pools. It was a shocker of a day - searing heat and winds but you know us ..... Mad dogs and ....
if you look closely you will see that this branch bears the flowers, buds and unripe fruit. The flowers were eaten and the leaves boiled in water to treat skin problems and the boiled water was also used to treat stomach ulcers. Nothing wasted!
This little beauty is Eremophila longifolia (yep long leaf!) also known as Emu bush (along with lots of other Eremophila) because the emus love the seeds/fruit. Zoom in and see the crafty trap waiting to tap pollen on any insect that alights on its landing pad. See the tiny hairs on the ‘petals’
Ripe juicy(?) Eremophila fruit.
Kurrajong seeds were ground and baked.
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