Many of the beautiful trees on the Nungalinya grounds were planted in the early days of the college. Plants that were important to Indigenous students were planted during that time.

In 2005, a group of women put together a booklet called ‘The “Tucker” Tree Walk at Nungalinya’. The introduction to the booklet reads,

Growing at Nungalinya College are many native plants that have special uses for Aboriginal People. We will take you on a bush walk through a small part of Nungalinya grounds and talk to you about some of our trees. This is a good time for you to learn a little bit of the deep knowledge we have of the land and how it looks after us and is closely related to us.  Gamaritj Gurruwiwi Helena Mayalampirr Shirley Gundhumawuy Ellen Gapany Matjarra Garrawurra Adi Dunlop

Many years later, we continue to care for and add to the collection of bush tucker plants here at the college. It is our hope that as you walk around our bush tucker walk you will grow in your appreciation of the depth of Indigenous knowledges and connection to the land.  

Acknowledgements

Photo credits: Ian Morris, Salome Moes and Karen Fletcher

In the collation of this edition we consulted many resources, including:

Brock, J. 2022. Native Plants of Northern Australia

Conservation Commission of the NT, 1993. Traditional Aboriginal Medicines in the Northern Territory of Australia

Wightman, G. & Andrews, M. 1991. Bush Tucker Identikit.

Scriptures are taken from a number of translations including New International Version, New Living Translation and Contemporary English Version.

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