Plants, vines & grasses
Fish-poison plants
miyilBarringtonia spp., Erythrophleum chlorostachys, Diospyros hebecarpa and others
Late in the dry season, when creeks shrink to separate waterholes, Kuku Yalanji stunned fish with crushed plants[1]. The dictionary's miyil is a tree 'which has poisonous sap used to blind fish': its seed is wrapped in grass and smashed under water[2]. On the Bloomfield the main fish poisons were the bark of Barringtonia racemosa, the seeds of B. asiatica, the bark and leaves of ironwood, and bundles of warmed Diospyros fruit[3][1]. Near Karma Waters the likeliest candidates are the freshwater mangrove Barringtonia acutangula, whose roots and other parts 'can be used as fish poison'[4], and Tephrosia astragaloides, a fish poison in Roth's list that has been collected about 4 km from the homestead[3][5]. The method itself is described under fish poisoning.
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
Fish poisons are recorded all around the Hann. Roth noted a bark used 'on the Musgrave River', where it had a Koko-rarmul name, and the roasted roots of Pongamia thrown into the water at Princess Charlotte Bay; Edward Palmer reported Barringtonia bark used on the Laura[3]. Freshwater mangrove, ironwood and cocky apple all grow in the Hann country[10]. Whether and how plant poisons are used on the Hann today is for its Traditional Owners to say.
Which plants grow here
In a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann, Laura and western Rinyirru the Atlas of Living Australia holds[10]:
- Freshwater mangrove (Barringtonia acutangula), 10 records (1978–2020), and two of B. racemosa (1986–2016), the species Palmer named for the Laura. In Rinyirru's perennial swamps 'Freshwater Mangrove (Barringtonia actangulata) may be common'[11].
- Ironwood (Erythrophleum chlorostachys), 50 records (1970–2026). Kuku Thaypan Elders call it Ku Morteall[11].
- Cocky apple (Planchonia careya), 25 records (1973–2024); Kuku Thaypan Ku Njora or chuad[11].
- Galactia, 10 records (1975–2013).
- Tephrosia, 72 records (1976–2014), but none of the fish-poison species T. astragaloides.
No Pongamia or Derris is recorded in the box.
What is recorded for this country
Roth, about 1900[3]:
- Galactia varians: 'The bark is used on the Musgrave River.' The Koko-rarmul name, from the hinterland of Princess Charlotte Bay, was mornilian (Roth's spelling).
- Pongamia: 'After being roasted, the roots are beaten up on a stone, tied into bundles, and thrown into the water, which turns somewhat greenish: it is put in of an evening, and left there all night' (Cooktown, Cape Bedford and Princess Charlotte Bay). Koko-rarmul and Koko-wara jo-ara.
- Barringtonia: Palmer spoke of the bark's use 'on the Mitchell, Laura, and Lynd Rivers'.
- Cocky apple leaves were used on the middle Palmer.
Kuku Thaypan. The Elders' plant records say of the cocky apple: 'Ku Njora is a useful tool for hunting river animals used by the Kuku-Thaypan People. The root of the plant is also utilised'[11]. They do not say how, and it is not this page's to guess.
Where it would work. Plant poisons work only in small, still pools (see Seasons above). The Hann itself never stops running, even in the late dry[12], so any such pool here would be a lagoon or a cut-off hole, not the river.
On country today
The upper Hann is the Possum People's country, and the middle and lower Hann are in the Thaypan native title determination of November 2023, held by the Awu-Laya Indigenous Corporation[13][14]. For anyone without native title rights, poisoning a waterhole is illegal (see Safety above).
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
Near Karma Waters the likeliest fish-poison plants are the freshwater mangrove along the river and Tephrosia astragaloides in the woodland[6][5].
Where they grow here
Around Karma Waters[6][5]:
- Freshwater mangrove. The Atlas of Living Australia has no Barringtonia records within 30 km of the homestead, but 12 within 60 km, all B. acutangula. They include a 1975 specimen from 'fringing scrub along river' on the McLeod River, 15 km west-north-west of Mount Carbine, and 2025 photographs about 37 km to the west-south-west. It is very likely on the Mitchell itself and is worth looking for on the banks.
- Tephrosia astragaloides was collected in 2008 about 4 km from the homestead (labelled 'Nychum Station', on metasediment near a creek in open woodland). There are 23 records within 60 km.
- Cocky apple (Planchonia careya, Roth's Careya australis) has four records within 60 km, the nearest about 37 km west-south-west[15].
The Tephrosia specimen near the homestead grew in open woodland near a creek[5].
Uses here
At Karma Waters, the station names black bream among the fish of the river[16].
Neighbours (not Kuku Yalanji)[3]:
- Derris uliginosa at Cooktown: stems hammered, roasted in bundles and thrown in.
- Pongamia at Cooktown, Cape Bedford and Princess Charlotte Bay: roasted roots beaten and left in overnight.
- Cocky apple (Careya australis) leaves on the middle Palmer and the Gulf coast. Palmer reported the stem bark used in fresh water and the root bark in salt water.
- Eucalyptus leaves and an ironbark among the Koko-minni of the middle Palmer.
- Tephrosia astragaloides leaves at Cloncurry and on the upper Flinders, crushed and thrown by the bundle into waist-deep waterholes 6–9 m across.
- Green Luffa on the Mitchell, Gilbert and Einasleigh rivers (after Palmer).
On country today
The Western Yalanji determinations recognise rights to hunt, fish and take natural resources around the Palmer and Mitchell rivers[17]. Whether, where and when plant poisons are still used is for Western Yalanji people to say. Ask the Western Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation, not the old books. For a station, the useful practical knowledge is recognising these plants, especially ironwood around stock and freshwater mangrove along the river.
Everywhere
Names
Miyil is the 'eye'. The same headword names a 'species of tree, which has poisonous sap used to blind fish. You wrap orange seed in grass to keep the sap from touching your skin and the eyes of people, then smash under water'[2]. The name fits what the poison does: Anderson's Bloomfield consultants said these plants 'stunned or blinded the fish'[1]. A related word, miyilabu, is a 'species of mangrove. It has a poisonous sap which makes people blind'[2]. Kuku Yalanji said the smoke of the mangrove Excoecaria agallocha causes blindness[1]. That suggests, but does not prove, that miyilabu is Excoecaria. The everyday word for poison is kuli, 'anger, poison, trouble'[2].
Roth recorded one Bloomfield fish-poison name: ngam-boi for Diospyros hebecarpa[3]. It has not been matched to a dictionary headword. Which tree miyil is, the dictionary does not say.
Description
Freshwater mangrove (Barringtonia acutangula) is the river species. Its leaves are 7–19 cm long, with finely toothed margins. The flowers hang in long strings, with red stamens and styles. The fruits are 2–6 cm long and four-winged when young, and the bark is 'strong and fibrous'[4]. Common names include stream barringtonia, itchy tree and mango bark[4].
Cooktown ironwood (Erythrophleum chlorostachys) is described in its own entry, Ironwood.
Barringtonia racemosa, B. asiatica and Diospyros hebecarpa are coastal and rainforest-edge plants of the Bloomfield[3][1]; they are not described further here. Tephrosia astragaloides is a member of the pea family.
Where it grows
B. acutangula is 'a characteristic species along major creeks and rivers' and lagoon margins across northern Australia. It grows in gallery forest from sea level to 450 m[4].
Old records from the inland rivers. Edward Palmer told Roth that Barringtonia racemosa bark was used to stupefy fish 'on the Mitchell, Laura, and Lynd Rivers'[3]. B. racemosa is mainly coastal, and the Barringtonia of the inland Mitchell today is B. acutangula[6]. Palmer may have meant that species. The sources do not settle it.
Seasons
Plant stupefacients were 'a common technique in the inland areas in the late dry season', when 'some of the smaller creeks dried and became a series of isolated waterholes'[1]. The poison works only in small, still pools.
Uses
Bloomfield River (Kuku Yalanji).
- Barringtonia racemosa: 'the bark is hammered between stones till it gets quite spongy, and then taken into the water, where it is rubbed with the hands. Fish are stupefied in about a quarter of an hour' (Bloomfield and Cooktown)[3]. Anderson recorded the stems used the same way[1].
- Barringtonia asiatica: the seeds were mashed together with a grass sponge, which was then shaken and swirled under water[1]. That is close to the dictionary's description of miyil[2].
- Ironwood (Erythrophleum chlorostachys): the bark and leaves were smashed together under water[1].
- Diospyros hebecarpa: the fruit was tied into long bundles. Each person warmed a bundle over the fire and squashed it in the water (Cooktown, Cape Bedford, Bloomfield, Cape Grafton)[3].
The poisons 'stunned or blinded the fish and they then floated to the surface where they could be collected'[1]. Anderson does not say which fish were taken this way. Line fishing in the same creeks and waterholes took turtle, 'eelfish', catfish and perch[1].
How it was done
These are historical records, set down so the knowledge is not lost. They are not instructions for visitors (see Safety).
Barringtonia bark, Bloomfield River[3][1]:
- Choose a small, isolated waterhole late in the dry.
- Hammer the bark (or stems) between stones until it is spongy.
- Take it into the water and rub it with the hands.
- Wait about a quarter of an hour, then collect the stunned fish as they float up.
Seeds in a grass sponge[1][2]:
- Wrap the seeds in grass, so the sap does not touch your skin or eyes.
- Mash or smash them under water, then shake and swirl the grass sponge through the pool.
- Keep your eyes tightly shut while working under water, and don't swim through the poisoned water.
Afterwards, the waterhole 'was then unusable until after a storm and flood renewed the water'[1].
Safety
Eyes. The sap of these plants can blind people. The dictionary says to wrap the seed in grass 'to keep the sap from touching your skin and the eyes of people'[2]. The divers 'had to close their eyes very tightly' and avoid swimming through the poison[1].
Water and stock. A poisoned waterhole stays unusable until the next flood[1]. In the dry season on a cattle station it may be the only water for stock and wildlife. Ironwood leaves are also deadly to cattle and horses (see Ironwood).
The law. Under s 81 of Queensland's Fisheries Act 1994, a person must not unlawfully use a 'noxious substance' to take fish. The maximum penalty is 2,000 penalty units[7]. Native title holders' traditional fishing for personal, domestic and non-commercial communal needs is protected by s 211 of the Native Title Act 1993[8]. Queensland's fisheries rules likewise exempt traditional fishing for those needs under native title holders' laws and customs[9]. For anyone else, plant-poisoning a waterhole is illegal.
Language
miyil 'eye'; also a fish-poison tree; miyilabu 'species of mangrove. It has a poisonous sap which makes people blind'; kuli 'anger, poison, trouble'; bakul 'poison plant found at Rossville'; jujabala 'ironwood tree'[2]. In Roth's spellings the Bloomfield name of Diospyros hebecarpa was ngam-boi, and the Guugu Yimithirr name of Derris at Cooktown was mokorja[3].
Images
References
- Anderson, C. (1996). Traditional material culture of the Kuku-Yalanji of Bloomfield River, North Queensland. Records of the South Australian Museum 29(1): 63–83. Based on fieldwork at Wujal Wujal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. — Fishing (plant stupefacients); camp (firewood: Excoecaria agallocha) archive.org/details/RecordsSouthAus29Sout
- 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
- Roth, W. E. (1901). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 3: Food — its search, capture, and preparation. Brisbane: Government Printer. Bloomfield River information from R. Hislop. — Sect. 15(c) fish-poisons ('Barringtonia racemosa', 'Careya australis', 'Derris uliginosa', 'Diospyros hebecarpa', 'Eucalyptus resinifera', 'Luffa aegyptiaca', 'Pongamia glabra', 'Tephrosia astragaloides') archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants (RFK8), Barringtonia acutangula subsp. acutangula (freshwater mangrove). CSIRO / Lucidcentral. apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/barringtonia_acutangula_subsp._acutangula.htm
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records of Tephrosia astragaloides within 60 km of the Karma Waters homestead, queried 6 October 2026 (23 records; nearest B. S. Wannan & B. Ackerman 2008, Nychum Station, about 4 km from the homestead). biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=taxon_name%3A%22Tephrosia%20astragaloides%22&lat=-16.6179&lon=144.6047&radius=60
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records of Barringtonia within 30 km and 60 km of the Karma Waters homestead (16.618° S, 144.605° E), queried 6 October 2026 (none within 30 km; 12 within 60 km, all B. acutangula, including I. B. Staples 1975, McLeod River). biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=genus%3ABarringtonia&lat=-16.6179&lon=144.6047&radius=60
- Fisheries Act 1994 (Qld), s 81 (use of explosives, firearms or noxious substances to take fish prohibited). www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/act-1994-037
- Australian Law Reform Commission (2014). Review of the Native Title Act 1993, Discussion Paper 82, ch. 8: Relevant provisions in the Native Title Act (s 211, preservation of native title hunting, fishing, gathering and cultural activities). 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/
- Business Queensland. First Nations fishing (Fisheries Act 1994). www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/fisheries/first-nations
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records of fish-poison plants: Barringtonia acutangula (10 records, 1978–2020), B. racemosa (2, 1986–2016), Erythrophleum chlorostachys (50, 1970–2026), Planchonia careya (25, 1973–2024), Galactia (10, 1975–2013), Tephrosia (72, 1976–2014, none of T. astragaloides); no Millettia (Pongamia) or Derris records in a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann River, Laura and western Rinyirru (lat −15.6 to −14.8, long 143.5 to 144.3), queried 28 October 2026. biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=*%3A*&fq=decimalLatitude%3A%5B-15.6%20TO%20-14.8%5D&fq=decimalLongitude%3A%5B143.5%20TO%20144.3%5D
- 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/
- Bureau of Meteorology, Water Data Online. Station 105001B, Hann River at Sandy Creek: daily and monthly mean discharge 1968–2026 (recent data provisional), retrieved 28 October 2026. No day of zero mean flow in 20,711 days of record; mean flow highest in February–March, lowest in September–November. www.bom.gov.au/waterdata/
- 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
- 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
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records of Planchonia careya within 60 km of the Karma Waters homestead, queried 6 October 2026 (4 records). biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=taxon_name%3A%22Planchonia%20careya%22&lat=-16.6179&lon=144.6047&radius=60
- Karma Waters Station. Bush Camping at Karma Waters Station (web page, accessed 5 October 2026). www.karmawatersstation.com/bush-camping.html
- Brady on behalf of the Western Yalanji People #4 v State of Queensland [2013] FCA 958 (Logan J, 24 September 2013), consent determinations of native title over lands in and around the Palmer and Mitchell River systems north-west of Mt Carbine. www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2013/2013fca0958
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