Vernice Gillies: Knowledge of bush tucker, plants, animals, and fish kept us fed and healthy

The Kalgan is a very ancient place.

Where it comes down into Oyster Harbour, or what we call Miartich.

In the harbour, it meets another river, the King, or what we call Warracoolyup.

Where these rivers come together is a meeting place, a place of unity.

A lot of people once thought that “up” meant water, but it actually means place.

Torndirrup, for example, means place of sandy beaches.

It is our belief that the Kalgan is one of the oldest rivers on the planet.

This has also been suggested by a historian who had a look at Kalganup from the air and saw its dark pathway — the pathway it used to take, into Miartich, through Emu point, and then to head out to sea.

And where does the Kalgan begin? We have been able to trace it back to the end of the Stirling Ranges, where it starts as a very small trickle.

The historian estimates that thousands and thousands of years ago it may have finished in the Antarctic.

This makes it a very important river system.

All water, or kepa, is as important then as it is today, as is all bush, and our people cared for it all and made sure there was always food.

For example, the bluebell vine.

When you took the soft fruit and rolled it around in your mouth, you would spit the seeds out and encourage future growth.

And underneath the bush will be lizards because they also loved the fruit, and they too scattered the seeds.

And when we dug up tubers, if there were three or four attached, we would only take one, put the plant back in the ground and plant the other one somewhere else.

It’s farming.

There is the kurrup, another little vine.

It has one of the richest sources of vitamin C you can find.

The fruit is small and has a lemony tang.

Another rich source of vitamin C comes from the cummock and both ripen about the same time.

When you understand bush tucker, the plants, the land animals, the fish, you can easily see that we had a very healthy diet and that we would never go hungry.

Vernice Gillies is a Menang-Noongar elder. This is the second of a four part series for the Albany Advertiser.