Plants, vines & grasses
Grass tree
nganjirr · kanunjulXanthorrhoea johnsonii (and other Xanthorrhoea species)
The grass tree, nganjirr[1], is the tufted, black-trunked plant of the dry open forest, Xanthorrhoea. Its resin, kanunjul, was 'used to make pitch to seal spear bindings'[1]. Kuku Yalanji at Bloomfield also used the light flower stalks as spear shafts and fire-drills. They ate the young leaf bases and shoots, and traded grass-tree spears inland[2][3][4][5]. Anderson's Bloomfield consultants rated grass-tree gum below other cements[6].
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
Grass trees grow in the Hann's stringybark country: Kuku Thaypan Elders describe messmate woodland with yellow jacket and ironbark 'on the ridgelines +/- grass trees'[9]. The Atlas of Living Australia holds 15 grass-tree records, 14 of them Xanthorrhoea johnsonii, from 1968 to 2024, in a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann, Laura and western Rinyirru[10]. The people of this country still know how to get its resin.
Where it grows here
On the sandstone ranges of this country the sparse shrub layer under the stringybark 'consists of canopy species, Acacia spp., or Xanthorrhoea johnsonii (grass tree)'[9]. Look for it on the ridges and the sandy messmate rises, not on the river flats[9].
How the people of this country used it
Gum for spears and bowls (Kuku Thaypan). Elder Dr George Musgrave Snr, speaking of bloodwood gum: 'if you no gum they use that thing, mix em up the grass tree gum, mix em up. Turn it hard. You can tie the spear, or you can plug the, ah the, Mess Mate Bark (Stringy Bark bowl) anything leak like that'[9].
Fire for resin (Kuku Thaypan). 'Areas of Grass Trees Xanthorrhoea sp. were sometimes burnt hot to extract resin to work with gum', one of the few hot fires in the Elders' practice[9].
Spears in trade (about 1900). The Endeavour and Bloomfield people 'travel up in the direction of the Laura River, and supply the Koko-warra with red-ochre, white-clay, grass-tree spears, etc.'[5].
Food. Roth's note that 'the bases of the young leaves are eaten raw' gives a Koko-rarmul name from Princess Charlotte Bay, rarnka in his spelling[2].
Getting resin, the Kuku Warra way
A Kuku Warra man from the Laura side told the Federal Court: 'At the bottom of the black boy tree, you get a resin right down near the root. You take the root of the tree, cut it with a tomahawk, scrape the dirt off, heat the root on hot coals, and the resin or sap comes out of the root. You can mould the sap to bind things together'[11].
- Dig down to the root at the bottom of the tree.
- Cut the root with a tomahawk.
- Scrape off the dirt.
- Heat the root on hot coals until the resin runs.
- Mould it warm round whatever it has to bind[11].
On country today
Native title holders can gather for their own needs without a licence[8]. In Rinyirru everyone else must 'not remove plant material, living or dead'[12].
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, herbarium and Atlas records place Xanthorrhoea johnsonii on Mount Mulligan and around Mount Carbine, not on the river flats[13].
Where it grows here
The Atlas of Living Australia has no grass-tree records within 30 km of the homestead. Within 60 km it has 23, and 21 of them are X. johnsonii. The nearest are herbarium specimens from Mount Mulligan, about 38 km south-east. They were collected in 1984–85 on a scree slope below the cliffs and near the summit dam. There are also 2024 photographs from just east of Mount Carbine, about 60 km east, and a 2010 specimen from Mount Windsor National Park[13]. So on the upper Mitchell, look for grass trees on the stony ranges and rocky slopes rather than on the river flats. They are worth reporting to the Atlas if you find them closer in.
On country today
The Western Yalanji determinations recognise native title rights to take and use natural resources on the land around the Palmer and Mitchell rivers[14].
Eastern coast Eastern Kuku Yalanji
Eastern Kuku Yalanji country: rainforest, beaches, mangroves, reef and the short steep rivers from the Daintree to the Bloomfield and the Annan.
On the Bloomfield grass-tree stalks and pitch went into spears, though Anderson's consultants rated its gum below ironwood's[6].
On country today
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bloomfield fishing spears still had their prong bindings covered with ironwood resin, car-battery 'tar', 'Araldite' or asphalt[6]. Store-bought glues had begun to take the place of tree gums.
Everywhere
Names
Nganjirr is the 'grass tree' and kanunjul is its resin[1]. Roth's Bloomfield records match both words. In his food-plant list the grass tree is ngang-ir on the Bloomfield[2]. In his list of cements its gum is tun-ja or kannojo-ol among the Kuku Yalanji[3]. On the Bloomfield, Roth added, chakki was the term for any gum[3]. The dictionary also lists burning grass tree or its pitch to send thunder away; that belongs to its keepers and is not described here[1].
Description
Xanthorrhoea johnsonii has a single trunk up to about 5 m tall, often blackened by fire. A clump of grass-like leaves sits on top. The leaves are rigid and grey-green, up to 1 m long and diamond-shaped in cross-section, and they arch over with age[7]. The flowers are small and white to cream, packed on a narrow cylindrical spike 20–120 cm long. The spike stands on a stalk 75–190 cm long. Black seeds form in spiky capsules on the spike[7]. The long, straight, light flower stalk is the part used for spear shafts and fire-drills. The resin is found in lumps among the roots[3].
Where it grows
X. johnsonii grows in drier coastal, inland and range country in Queensland and New South Wales, usually as an understorey plant in open forest[7]. It is a plant of the dry country, not the rainforest.
Seasons
X. johnsonii flowers from August to October[7], in the late dry. Fire often blackens the trunks[7]. Resin can be dug from among the roots at any time[3]. The young leaf bases and shoots that Roth recorded as food[2] are best looked for when the plant is putting on new growth.
Uses
Pitch (Bloomfield). Kanunjul, the resin, was made into pitch to seal the bindings on spears[1]. Roth wrote that the gum, 'found as it is in lumps in amongst the roots, only requires heating before use'[3]. Anderson lists grass-tree resin (Xanthorrhoea johnsonii) alongside resins from brown cedar (Canarium australasicum) and ironwood for fixing stingray barbs and multiple prongs, which were first bound on with wallaby sinew[6]. But his Bloomfield consultants also said that grass-tree and Grevillea gums did not have 'very good bonding qualities'. Ironwood root gum was easy to get and of good quality, so it was preferred[6]. Both records stand: grass-tree pitch was used, but it was not the best glue on the Bloomfield.
Spear shafts (Bloomfield). The light flower stalks made the butt ends of spears:
- the Bloomfield many-pronged fish spear, yirmbua in Roth's spelling (the dictionary's yirrmba), was made of light wood, 'preferably' grass tree[4];
- the spear Roth wrote as wur-poi had a long grass-tree butt and a short Acacia holocarpa foreshaft with a wooden barb[4].
Anderson's table of Bloomfield spears also lists grass-tree butts joined to black palm or Acacia points[6]. Bloomfield and Endeavour River people carried grass-tree spears inland toward the Laura River as trade goods[5]. More on spears is in Spear and woomera.
Fire. Across North Queensland, grass tree was 'the most common of all' timbers for the twirled fire-drill wherever it grew[3].
Food. On the Bloomfield and among neighbouring peoples, 'the bases of the young leaves are eaten raw; also the extremities of the young shoots'[2]. A grub, kuru, is 'found in dry grass tree'[1]; compare witchetty grubs.
How it was done
- Clear the soil from around the base of a grass tree and look for lumps of resin among the roots.
- Gather the lumps and knock off the dirt.
- Warm them by the fire until soft. Roth records no other ingredient for grass-tree gum. For brown-cedar and ironwood gum, Bloomfield people pounded the warm gum between two stones greased with fat to stop it sticking. No source says whether grass-tree gum was treated the same way.
- Bind the barb or prongs onto the spear with sinew or twine.
- Press the soft pitch over the binding. Smooth it with a smoothing board, a flat palm-sized piece of hard wood greased with sweat from the forehead. Roth recorded these boards on the Bloomfield, Palmer and Mitchell rivers.
- Let it cool and set hard. Gentle heat softens it again for repairs.
A grass-tree spear butt, Bloomfield River[4]:
- Choose a long, straight, dry flower stalk.
- Join it to a hardwood foreshaft, such as Acacia, with a mortice.
- Bind the join with sinew or twine and seal it with pitch.
Safety
Hot resin sticks to skin and burns, so handle it with a stick or a greased board, as the old people did[3][6]. Grass trees grow slowly: a seedling takes 3–7 years to reach flowering size[7]. Take resin from among the roots without killing the plant, and leave the flower stalks of young plants. Don't confuse grass-tree pitch with kulbawurr, 'the resin gum of the cypress pine which is poisonous'. It too 'was used on spears in the old days', and 'the effect lasts about two hours'[1]. Roth recorded a cement called kalbuwur from the head of the Daintree, and a chemist found that its resin behaved 'in every way like a Red Grass-tree Resin'[3].
On Country today
Under s 211 of the Native Title Act 1993, native title holders can gather for personal, domestic and communal needs without the licences other people need[8]. Visitors need Traditional Owners' permission to dig resin or cut flower stalks.
Language
nganjirr 'grass tree'; kanunjul 'resin of grass tree'; julnji 'tar from a tree used to make spears'; janbangal 'to glue or stick something, using pitch or glue (yalanji only)'; kulbawurr 'the resin gum of the cypress pine'; kuru 'grub found in dry grass tree'; yirrmba 'many-pronged fish spear'[1]. In Roth's spellings the Kuku Yalanji grass-tree plant is ngang-ir, its gum tun-ja or kannojo-ol, and gum in general on the Bloomfield chakki. Guugu Yimithirr at Cooktown and Cape Bedford called the grass tree and its gum pungga[2][3].
Images
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
- 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. — Plant list, 'Xanthorrhoea arborea' archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Roth, W. E. (1904). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 7: Domestic implements, arts, and manufactures. Brisbane: Government Printer. — Sect. 5 fire-sticks ('Xanthorrhoea arborea'); sect. 13 cements ('Xanthorrhoea arborea', 'Kalbuwur', 'Canarium australasicum'); sect. 16 smoothing-board archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Roth, W. E. (1909). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 13: Fighting weapons. Records of the Australian Museum 7(4). — Compound spears: Bloomfield 'yirmbua' and 'wur-poi' archive.org/details/biostor-52873
- Roth, W. E. (1910). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 14: Transport and trade. Records of the Australian Museum. — Trade: Endeavour and Bloomfield River people supplying the Koko-warra with grass-tree spears archive.org/details/biostor-52863
- 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. — Table 1 (Kuku-Yalanji spears); hunting (spear resins); manufacturing (gums and resins); post-contact fishing spears archive.org/details/RecordsSouthAus29Sout
- Native Plants Queensland, Townsville Branch. Native plants of the Townsville region: Xanthorrhoea johnsonii (grass-tree). www.npqtownsville.org.au/native-plants-of-the-townsville-region/xanthorrhoea-johnsonii/
- 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/
- 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/
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records of the genus Xanthorrhoea (15 records, 1968–2024; 14 of them Xanthorrhoea johnsonii) 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=*:*&fq=decimalLatitude:%5B-15.6%20TO%20-14.8%5D&fq=decimalLongitude:%5B143.5%20TO%20144.3%5D
- 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
- Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. About Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL): park features and looking after the park (web page, last updated 1 July 2024; accessed 28 October 2026). parks.qld.gov.au/parks/rinyirru-lakefield/about
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records of the genus Xanthorrhoea 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; 23 within 60 km, 21 of them X. johnsonii, including Mt Mulligan specimens, J. R. Clarkson 1984–85). biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=genus%3AXanthorrhoea&lat=-16.6179&lon=144.6047&radius=60
- 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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