Skills & methods
Bush medicine: the recorded remedies
dukunjaka is 'bush medicine', and the dictionary records a handful of remedies in its own words: bangkan, 'a kind of root, a medicine for sores. Boil the roots and wash the sores with the water'; kabal, the Leichhardt tree, 'if you have a sore joint, boil the bark in water, rub the cooled water on the sore joint'; yangka, the green ant, 'used as a medicine for the common cold and other chest complaints. They can be crushed and the odour inhaled to cure headache; or the eggs, larvae, and pupae from the nests can be mixed with salt water and taken', the mixture being kalbal; and the poison nut jinjay, whose 'bark and sap are poisonous, but water from cooked wattle tree bark will cure the poisoned skin'[1]. In 1883 Edward Palmer listed the 'plants used for medicine' on the Flinders, Mitchell and Cloncurry rivers: the young leaves of the stringybark 'bruised and rubbed in water in a kooliman with the hands till the water is green and thick, when it is drunk for fevers and headache'; the young leaves of the big paperbark 'bruised in water, and drunk for headache and colds and general sickness'; the bark of the gutta-percha tree mashed in hot water as a wash 'for pains and sickness'; and a set of strong-smelling river herbs, two of them called 'Kar-kar', 'which seems to be a general name for medicinal plants', drunk for fevers[2]. The modern sources add that eucalyptus oil is accepted in Europe 'for treating cough associated with the common cold, and to relieve symptoms of localized muscle pain', that tea-tree oil 'is poisonous if consumed by mouth and is unsafe for children', and that the kino of the river red gum was once a drug for diarrhoea[3][4][5]. This page records; it does not prescribe. For a snake bite, a bad cut, a fever that will not break or a sick child, the answer in the bush is the first-aid kit, the satellite phone and the Flying Doctor, and the old washes and drinks are for the small complaints they were always for[6][7].
Nothing is written for the Eastern coast on this page yet. What follows is true across the country.
Hann River Cape York
Possum People's country on the upper river and Thaypan (Kuku Thaypan) country downstream: stringybark and bloodwood woodland and a spring-fed sandy river that runs north-east from the Great Dividing Range, past the Peninsula Developmental Road, into Rinyirru (Lakefield) and the North Kennedy. Not Kuku Yalanji country: the Kuku Yalanji words on this page are the dictionary's, not the Hann's own languages. Place guide
On the Hann the medicine knowledge belongs to the Thaypan, Possum and Kuku Warra peoples, and some of it is on the public record in their own words. A Thaypan man told the Federal Court in 2023 that he shows his children 'bush medicines as well, like Quinine for toothache'[20], and a Kuku Warra man from the Laura side described remedies from green ants, bloodwood gum, the quinine fruit, native honey and a white currant root[21]. Kuku Thaypan Elders treat medicine 'very seriously'[22].
Where the medicines grow here
Kuku Thaypan Elders describe medicine plants by the kind of country they grow in. Their sandridge and messmate country 'provides special medicines, food resources, fruits and yams'; their stony 'Debil Debil' country 'contains medicinal and spiritual plants'; and tea-tree country 'was valued as medicine'. Cockatoo grass, Kwern Yulan, 'was used in medicines'. A fire that is too hot, late in the year, ends up 'destroying important food, craft and medicinal resources', so the right fire at the right time is how the medicine plants are looked after[22]. The Awu Laya database holds '13 species and 27 records referring to medicine'[22]; this page does not repeat them.
What the people of this country use
Thaypan (the Hann and the Morehead), 2023. A Thaypan man told the Court: 'I show them bush medicines as well, like Quinine for toothache. There's black and white current that you crush the root to put on scabs and sores. There's also a cherry bush that you make into a drink and when you drink it, it makes you feel good. You can find them in different places depending on the season. My old people taught me about this and now I'm passing it onto my kids and the next generation'[20].
Kuku Warra (Laura and the Palmer side), 2023. A Kuku Warra man learned bush medicine from his uncle 'when I was seven or eight down near the south side of the Palmer River'[21]. What he described:
- Green ants for headache: 'you crush the nest, mix it with water and it cures a headache too. If you catch the ants at the right time of the year they have white eggs, and when you crush the eggs with water, it makes a milky drink.'
- Bloodwood gum for toothache: 'you get the gum or sap from the bloodwood tree and you can just rub it on your tooth … The bloodwood sap numbs the area.'
- Quinine fruit: 'you strip the skin or the bark off the fruit, like peeling an orange, then rub the inner fruit on the affected are[a]. It has a really bitter taste.'
- Honey for headache: 'The honey is good for headache. My Dad showed me that you can mix the honey with water and drink it.' See native bees.
- White currant root for sores: a woman with sores 'dug out some tree root, boiled it, bathed in it, and a week later it cleared it all up. That tree is called white currant. It has a language name but I don't know it.'
He added: 'There are some families around here using bush medicine'[21].
Respect
In the Kuku Thaypan Elders' knowledge, medicine 'can be good medicine or bad and its use is treated very seriously, sometimes having unexpected ramifications if not used correctly including disturbance of one's spirit or death'. It 'can be self-administered once taught how to by a knowledge holder but was sought from experienced people who were recognised as doctors of medicine'[22]. Learn it from the Traditional Owners, on their country, or not at all.
On country today
The upper Hann is the Possum People's country[23] and the middle and lower Hann are Thaypan country, both determined in November 2023[20]; Laura and the Deighton River side are Kuku Warra country[21]. Taking plants for personal, domestic and non-commercial communal needs is part of native title[24]; everyone else needs the Traditional Owners' permission, and in Rinyirru the park rules[25].
Upper Mitchell Western Yalanji
Western Yalanji country west of the Great Dividing Range: dry open woodland cut by the sandy, paperbark-lined upper Mitchell River, around Karma Waters and Mount Carbine. Place guide
The paperbarks, stringybarks, lemon ironbarks, woody pears and river herbs of Palmer's list are all on Karma Waters, and the green ants are in every second tree[26][27].
On the record here
Within 30 km of Karma Waters the Atlas of Living Australia holds one record of the cudweed, two of the northern woody pear and nine of the lemon-scented ironbark[26].
Rules here
Taking bark and leaves for personal use on native title country is covered by the Western Yalanji determinations[28].
On country today
What the Western Yalanji called them and used them for is the knowledge this page is waiting for; the contribution box below is for it, and the sensitive parts of that knowledge belong to the people who hold it.
Everywhere
Names: the dictionary's medicine words
dukunjaka 'bush medicine'. bangkan 'a kind of root, a medicine for sores. Boil the roots and wash the sores with the water.' kabal the Leichhardt tree, bark boiled, cooled and rubbed on a sore joint. yangka 'green ant. There are used as a medicine for the common cold and other chest complaints. They can be crushed and the odour inhaled to cure headache; or the eggs, larvae, and pupae from the nests can be mixed with salt water and taken'; kalbal 'the mixture made from green ant larvae/pupae and eggs eaten for chest sickness and the common cold'. jinjay 'poison nut tree ... the bark and sap are poisonous, but water from cooked wattle tree bark will cure the poisoned skin'[1].
The sicknesses: bambay 'sick', kumbir 'well after being sick', ngulkurr 'good, well, not sick', ngiki 'a cold, or any sickness of the lungs as bronchitis', ngikiji 'have a cold or chest complaint', ngiki-damaji 'cough', baji 'a sore', muja 'wound not yet healed', baykal 'ache, pain', wurrkal 'hurt, ache', kaka 'sore, achey', jalngkay 'itch', kiway 'cold'[1]. The dictionary also records beliefs about the causes and cures of sickness that belong to the old people and are left in the dictionary.
The recorded remedies
From the dictionary (Bloomfield Kuku Yalanji).
- A root, bangkan, boiled, the water used to wash sores[1].
- Leichhardt tree bark, kabal, boiled, the water cooled and rubbed on a sore joint; see Leichhardt tree[1].
- Green ants, yangka: crushed and the smell breathed in for headache; the eggs, larvae and pupae mixed with salt water and taken for colds and chest complaints; see green ants[1].
- Water from cooked wattle bark for skin poisoned by the sap of the poison nut, jinjay; see leaching[1].
- The stinging tree page has the dictionary's note on that sting.
From Palmer's list, 'Plants used for medicine' on the Flinders and Mitchell Rivers, 1883. Palmer gave the native names of the Cloncurry and Mitchell districts as he heard them, and those names belong to the Gulf-side peoples, not to Kuku Yalanji.
- Eucalyptus tetrodonta, the stringybark or messmate, 'Olm-bah' on the Mitchell: 'the leaves of the young trees are bruised and rubbed in water in a kooliman with the hands till the water is green and thick, when it is drunk for fevers and headache'[2].
- Melaleuca leucadendron, 'the large tea-tree', 'Atchoourgo' on the Mitchell: 'the young leaves are bruised in water, and drunk for headache and colds and general sickness; the bark is also used for bedding to lay on the ground, and to form camps with. Cajaput oil is made from this same tree'[2]. See paperbark.
- Excoecaria parvifolia, 'the gutta-percha tree', on the Mitchell 'often in country subject to floods': 'full of milky juice, very dangerous to the eyes. The natives use the bark mashed up in water in a wooden kooliman, and heated with stones from a fire close by. The wash is applied externally to all parts of the body, rubbing it in. Used for pains and sickness'[2]. The Warumungu of Tennant Creek 'use the smoke from burning the wood to keep away mosquitoes'[8].
- Gnaphalium luteo-album, 'Kar-kar', 'found mostly in the rivers and creeks or near scrubs on the Mitchell. Used medicinally for general sickness, as a drink'; and Heliotropium ovalifolium, 'Kar-kar, which seems to be a general name for medicinal plants ... Bruised in water it is used as a drink and wash, the head and body being rubbed over with the dilution'[2]. The first is the cudweed Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum, used in Vietnam's traditional medicine 'for the treatment of cough, and for pain relief'[9].
- Loranthus quandang, the mistletoe of the gidgee: 'the leaves are bruised in water and drunk for fevers'[2].
- Moschosma polystachium, 'an erect, slender, much-branched annual ... strong-smelling', on the Mitchell 'in sheltered places': 'used as a medicine by mixing in water, for fevers'[2].
- Ocimum sanctum, 'Bulla bulla' on the Mitchell, 'a fragrant shrub ... of a strong pleasant odour. The leaves are crushed up in water in a kooliman, and drunk for fevers and sickness. White people make tea of the leaves dried, called bush tea'[2].
- Plectranthus congestus, 'Kar-kar' on the Mitchell, 'a strong-smelling branching herb, 3 feet high, growing rankly on the banks of the Mitchell and Flinders. Leaves and branches crushed in water and drunk for internal complaints'[2].
- Pterocaulon glandulosus, 'a strongly smelling herb ... Used for medicine in fevers'[2]; its relative the apple bush 'is an aromatic plant used in Australian Aboriginal medicine'[10].
- Eucalyptus pruinosa, the silver-leaved box of the Cloncurry: 'the inside bark is stripped and wound round the chest and body very tightly, damped with water, for pains, rheumatism, &c., sitting down in the water at the same time'[2].
- Eucalyptus microtheca, the coolibah, 'Jinbul or Kurleah' on the Cloncurry: the branches and leaves laid in water 'for several days to sicken the fish', and 'the inside bark is beaten up and used as a poultice for snake-bites, heated'[2]. That was 1883. Today's first aid for any suspected snake bite is a pressure bandage, keeping still and getting to hospital; see snakes[6].
Other recorded uses of plants of the inland woodland.
- The northern woody pear, Xylomelum scottianum: 'it was used medicinally by the Aboriginal people, as an infusion of the bark and leaves, drunk to relieve internal pain'[11].
- The soap tree or red ash, Alphitonia excelsa: 'Indigenous Australians used the leaves as a soap due to the plant's high saponin content'[12].
- The lemon-scented ironbark, Eucalyptus staigeriana, 'endemic to the Cape York Peninsula', whose leaves 'smell strongly of lemons when crushed' and yield an essential oil 'used for flavouring, perfumery and aromatherapy'[13].
- Eucalyptus oil generally: 'the European Medicines Agency Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products concluded that traditional medicines based on eucalyptus oil can be used for treating cough associated with the common cold, and to relieve symptoms of localized muscle pain'[3].
- Tea-tree oil, from a southern Melaleuca: 'a possible treatment for "small, superficial wounds, insect bites, and small boils"', but 'highly toxic when ingested orally' and not 'used on people under 12 years of age'[4].
- Eucalyptus kino from the river red gum, 'frequently used in diarrhoea' in the old pharmacopoeias[5].
- The fish-poison plants, Tephrosia and the rest, are poisons, not medicines; 'many species in the genus are poisonous' with rotenone; see fish-poison plants[14].
Telling the medicine plants
- Stringybark: long fibrous bark peeling in strips, broad bluish leaves in opposite pairs on the young trees[2].
- Weeping paperbark: white papery bark, drooping branches, cream bottlebrush spikes; the leaves smell of tea-tree when crushed[15].
- Gutta-percha tree: small clustered leaves, rough bark, milky sap that is 'very dangerous to the eyes', on the flood flats[2].
- The 'Kar-kar' herbs: soft, strong-smelling river-bank herbs; the cudweed is woolly-white with pale flower heads[2][9].
- Lemon-scented ironbark: ironbark that smells of lemon when a leaf is crushed[13].
- Woody pear: a small tree of the sandy ridges with a big woody pear-shaped fruit[11].
- Soap tree: leaves dark green above and silver-white beneath; bruised shoots smell of sarsaparilla; the leaves lather[12].
Signs
Where the medicine plants grow
The river bank and flood flats for the herbs, the gutta-percha tree and the paperbarks; the sandy ridges for the stringybark and the woody pear; the hills for the lemon-scented ironbark; the green ants in the trees of both[2][11][13].
Why the remedies are what they are
Almost every plant on the list is aromatic: eucalypt and paperbark leaves full of oil, the strong-smelling mint-family herbs, the lemon ironbark, the crushed green ant. The smell is the medicine the old people recognised, and it is the same oil that the modern sources accept for coughs and sore muscles[2][3]. The other group is the astringents and washes: bark water, kino, root water for sores, which draw and dry[1][5]. The third is the one that fails: the poultice for snake bite, which was what people had before antivenom and the pressure bandage[2][6].
Seasons
The river herbs come after the wet and go with the dry; the bark and leaf medicines are there all year; the green ants' eggs and larvae are in the nests through the warm months[2][1]. See the year on country.
The remedies by complaint, as recorded
- Colds, chest, cough: green ants crushed and inhaled, or the eggs and larvae in salt water (dictionary); paperbark young-leaf water drunk (Palmer); eucalyptus oil (modern)[1][2][3].
- Headache: green ants inhaled; stringybark and paperbark leaf water[1][2].
- Fevers: the 'Kar-kar' herbs, the mistletoe, 'Bulla bulla' basil and Pterocaulon as drinks (Palmer)[2].
- Sore joints, pains, rheumatism: Leichhardt tree bark wash (dictionary); gutta-percha bark hot wash; silver-leaved box bark wrap (Palmer)[1][2].
- Sores and poisoned skin: bangkan root wash; cooked wattle-bark water (dictionary)[1].
- Internal pain: woody pear bark and leaf infusion (recorded)[11].
- Washing: soap tree leaves[12].
- Mosquitoes: gutta-percha smoke (Warumungu)[8].
Using the record
- Treat this page as a record. Each remedy is given in its source's words; none has been tested here, and the dictionary's and Palmer's recipes are a century and more old[1][2].
- Washes and smells first. The recorded uses that carry least risk are the external ones: a cooled bark or root wash on a sore joint or a sore, a crushed aromatic leaf breathed in, a smoky fire against mosquitoes[1][8].
- Know the plant. The gutta-percha sap is 'very dangerous to the eyes'; the poison nut's sap burns; tea-tree oil is 'highly toxic when ingested'; a wrong leaf in a drink is a poisoning. Identify with someone who knows, and start with a little[2][1][4].
- Never for the emergencies. Snake bite is a pressure bandage and a phone call; a deep cut, a burn, a fever in a child, chest pain, a crocodile or pig wound, a bat scratch: the first-aid kit and the Flying Doctor[6][17].
- Take bark from a branch, not round the trunk, and leaves from several plants, so the medicine tree lives.
- Write down what the old people say about which plant and which complaint; the contribution box below is for that, and the dictionary's dukunjaka list is short.
Safety
- This page is not medical advice; it records uses from the dictionary, from Palmer in 1883 and from encyclopaedia sources[1][2].
- Snake bite: pressure bandage, keep still, hospital; not a poultice[6].
- Tea-tree and eucalyptus oils are for the outside of the body; tea-tree oil 'is poisonous if consumed by mouth and is unsafe for children'[4].
- Milky saps: the gutta-percha and the poison nut burn skin and eyes[2][1].
- Native plants are protected; taking bark and leaves for personal use on native title country is covered by section 211 of the Native Title Act 1993[18][19].
On Country today
What the old people of each place called these plants and used them for is the knowledge this page is waiting for; the contribution box below is for it, and the sensitive parts of that knowledge belong to the people who hold it. Read the place sections above for what is already on the record.
Language
dukunjaka 'bush medicine'; bangkan root medicine for sores; kabal Leichhardt tree; yangka green ant; kalbal the green-ant mixture; jinjay poison nut; ngiki 'a cold'; ngiki-damaji 'cough'; baji 'a sore'; muja 'wound not yet healed'; baykal 'ache, pain'; bambay 'sick'; kumbir 'well after being sick'; ngulkurr 'well, not sick'[1].
References
- Hershberger, H. D. & Hershberger, R. (1982). Kuku-Yalanji Dictionary. Work Papers of SIL-AAB, Series B, Volume 7. With Toby Bloomfield, Roy Friday, Billy Roberts, Hector and Doris Sykes, Joe Walker and others. www.sil.org/resources/archives/18038
- Palmer, E. (1883). On plants used by the natives of North Queensland, Flinders and Mitchell Rivers, for food, medicine, &c., &c. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 17: 93–113. Palmer's Mitchell River names come from the lower and middle Mitchell, not from Kuku Yalanji speakers. archive.org/details/journalandproce16walegoog
- Wikipedia. Eucalyptus oil. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_oil
- Wikipedia. Tea tree oil. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_tree_oil
- Wikipedia. Kino (botany): Eucalyptus kino and its former medicinal use. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kino_(botany)
- healthdirect Australia (Australian Government). Snake bites: symptoms, first aid and the pressure immobilisation bandage (accessed 10 October 2026). www.healthdirect.gov.au/snake-bites
- Karma Waters Station. Bush Camping at Karma Waters Station (web page, accessed 5 October 2026). www.karmawatersstation.com/bush-camping.html
- Wikipedia. Excoecaria parvifolia (gutta-percha tree). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excoecaria_parvifolia
- Wikipedia. Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum (Jersey cudweed). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudognaphalium_luteoalbum
- Wikipedia. Pterocaulon sphacelatum (apple bush). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterocaulon_sphacelatum
- Wikipedia. Xylomelum scottianum (northern woody pear). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylomelum_scottianum
- Wikipedia. Alphitonia excelsa (red ash, soap tree). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphitonia_excelsa
- Wikipedia. Eucalyptus staigeriana (lemon-scented ironbark). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_staigeriana
- Wikipedia. Tephrosia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tephrosia
- Wikipedia. Melaleuca leucadendra (weeping paperbark). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melaleuca_leucadendra
- Wikipedia. Nauclea orientalis (Leichhardt tree). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauclea_orientalis
- NSW Health. Rabies and Australian bat lyssavirus infection: fact sheet (accessed 10 October 2026). www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/factsheets/Pages/rabies-australian-bat-lyssavirus-infection.aspx
- Queensland Government, State of the Environment. Nature Conservation Act 1992. www.stateoftheenvironment.des.qld.gov.au/biodiversity/management-responses/legislation/nature-conservation-act-1992
- Australian Law Reform Commission. Review of the Native Title Act 1993 (DP 82), ch. 8: Relevant provisions in the Native Title Act (s 211). www.alrc.gov.au/publication/review-of-the-native-title-act-1993-dp-82/8-the-nature-and-content-of-native-title/relevant-provisions-in-the-native-title-act/
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 20) (Thaypan determination) [2023] FCA 1315 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). — Determination area and waters; prescribed body corporate (Awu-Laya Indigenous Corporation); affidavit evidence on hunting www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1315
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 19) (Kuku Warra determination) [2023] FCA 1314 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1314
- Standley, P.-M. (2019). The importance of campfires to effective conservation. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Records the fire and country knowledge of Kuku Thaypan Elders Dr Tommy George and Dr George Musgrave. researchonline.jcu.edu.au/64274/
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 21) (Possum determination) [2023] FCA 1316 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). — Determination area (upper Hann and Kennedy rivers); prescribed body corporate; affidavit evidence on hunting and fishing www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1316
- Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), section 211: preservation of certain native title rights and interests (hunting, fishing and gathering for personal, domestic or non-commercial communal needs). www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text
- Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. Nature, culture and history: Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL) (web page, last updated 1 July 2024; accessed 28 October 2026). parks.qld.gov.au/parks/rinyirru-lakefield/about/culture
- Atlas of Living Australia. Plant occurrence records within 30 km of the Karma Waters homestead (16.62°S, 144.60°E), queried 10 October 2026: 832 records of 266 species. biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=kingdom:Plantae&lat=-16.62&lon=144.60&radius=30
- Wikipedia. Oecophylla smaragdina (green tree ant, weaver ant). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oecophylla_smaragdina
- Western Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation & CRC for Developing Northern Australia (2020). Western Yalanji Land Use and Economic Diversification Plan. CC BY 4.0. — Native Title Determinations 1–4 (pp. 13–18); ‘Fire Management and Carbon Farming’ (pp. 32–33); ‘Pastoralists’ crcna.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/westernyalanjilanduseplan_nov2020.pdf
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