Aboriginal Resource Use

Toxic plant use

A special characteristic of the Aboriginal rainforest lifestyle was, and still is, the use of toxic plants - mainly large rainforest fruits and nuts. Plants with toxic alkaloids including Yellow Walnut (Beilschmiedia bancroftii), Black Bean (Castanospermum australe), cycads (Cycas spp., Lepidozamia hopei) were widely used as an everyday carbohydrate food resource. These plants, among many others, also provided a valuable source of protein during the wetter months when animals were difficult to hunt.

Despite being potentially poisonous, these foods were preferred. Even today when the easy option is to shop in a supermarket, Rainforest Aboriginal people go to the trouble to gather and prepare these foods because it is still part of their culture and they enjoying eating their traditional foods.

 
Hunting and fishing

Rainforest animals were, and continue to be, hunted for food. Animals provided an important source of protein. By-products from many rainforest animals (e.g., sinews, fur, small bones and blood) were used to make cultural objects, such as spears and shields.

Clumps of ferns and epiphytes high up in the canopy are favoured resting sites for pythons, tree kangaroos, possums and goannas and younger men used hanging vines and special tools to climb into the treetops and hunt them. Large colonies of flying-foxes were also a popular food source.

Lawyer cane traps were used to catch pademelons, bandicoots, scrub hens, brush turkey, cassowary and wallaby. Spears and spear throwers were also used in the rainforest to catch goanna and other food, with tools such as boomerangs more useful in open forest to catch birds. "Porcupine" (echidna) is another popular food.

The beautiful freshwater creeks of the Wet Tropics also house many traditional foods such as fresh water turtle, eels, platypus, red claw yabbies (crayfish) and fish such as black bream which were caught with hand made fishing line and spears. Eel traps were made from lawyer cane; stone fish traps and a variety of fish poisons were used to stun fish and bring them to the surface. Wetlands also provide plenty of food, such as magpie geese.

River estuaries supplied a range of shellfish, fish such as catfish and barramundi, and even crocodile. The sea provided turtle, dugong (similar to manatee), and fish such as stingray, which were caught with special spears. Crabs, prawns, and a range of bird life such as ducks, and Torresian Imperial pigeons were also favoured foods. Tidal fish traps were built up to a metre (a little over 3 feet) high from boulders to catch fish, crabs and other shellfish which swam into the traps and then were caught in low tide. Some fish traps have survived and are now registered as significant cultural heritage sites.

 
Cassowary case study

Cassowary are culturally very significant. Many Rainforest Aboriginal people have customs, stories, songs and dances about the cassowary. Cassowaries are prized food, and their feathers, claws and bone are used for ornaments and hunting. Cassowary images are found on rock art in the Wet Tropics. Artists continue to paint pictures of the birds in artwork and for artefacts to sell to tourists.

Many of the trees cassowaries "plant" are food that Rainforest Aboriginal people enjoy eating, such as Burdekin Plums, Davidson Plums and Blue Quandong.

The fact that cassowaries are now endangered is also of significance to Rainforest Aboriginal people. As modern day pressures threaten the future of cassowaries, they also threaten the customs and traditions associated with cassowaries and impact upon the long term cultural survival of Rainforest Aboriginal people.

 
Tools

Specialist tools and utensils were very important to Rainforest Aboriginal people and enabled them to use their environments' resources. Stone axes were used to chop trees, build dwellings and gather resources such as witchetty grubs (beetle larvae). Yams, taro and other roots were gathered with digging sticks. Spears and throwing sticks were made for a wide range of hunting and fishing purposes. String was hand made and used to make nets for fishing.

Baskets were used to collect and transport wild foods. The bicornual woven baskets of Rainforest Aboriginal people are different to those found in other parts of Australia. They are made of lawyer cane (also known as wait-a-while) and have a distinctive two-cornered, elongated shape. Other baskets were made to carry water, to collect honey and other wild food. Another unique resource was the inner bark of certain species of rainforest fig which was shredded and beaten to make blankets.

The traditional Aboriginal tool kit was supplemented by unique rainforest implements. These include a decorative wooden shield and long wooden fighting sticks or "swords" made of buttress roots from rainforest trees. They weren't used for hunting, but for self-defence during tribal conflicts or as part of rituals.

Tools also served other important social functions. Message sticks were carved from small pieces of wood and decorated with symbols and paint. They were used to tell other language groups of meetings (like an invitation card is used now) or served as a passport to travel through other groups' lands.