Maleny Botanic Gardens launches new Bush Tucker gardens to inspire visitors about Indigenous culture and heritage

The Sunshine Coast Hinterland’s premier attraction, Maleny Botanic Gardens & Bird World, has partnered with the region’s traditional owners, the Jinibara People Aboriginal Corporation, and local cultivators, Brush Turkey Enterprises, to create new Bush Tucker gardens.

Two separate areas of the expansive gardens have been planted with Indigenous plants used traditionally in cooking and medicine by the Jinibara Peoples.

Jinibara rangers prepared the gardens and planted the shrubs and bushes, which were grown by Maleny’s Brush Turkey Enterprises, experts in native plants, re-vegetation, and bush regeneration.

Plant descriptions outlining their use in Indigenous culture have been created to educate visitors about the wide variety of uses of the plants.

Plants include Davidson’s Plum, Emu Foot, Aniseed Myrtle, Lemon Myrtle, a variety of native mints, quandong, native raspberry, and the remarkable Lemon Sherbet Coleus, named as such because of the lemon sherbet aroma the plant exudes when touched.

These plants provided sustenance and medical treatments for the local Jinibara centuries before Europeans arrived in the area.

The Jinibara were known as the ‘mountain people’ who lived in the areas on either side of the Glass House Mountains. They shared what is now known as the Sunshine Coast region with the Kabi Kabi, who are known as the ‘Saltwater People’.

The Bush Tucker gardens are the latest evolution in the 23 acres of exotic gardens created out of a former 110 acre cattle farm. Much of the property was denuded or overgrown when owner Frank Schipp bought the land in 2005, and despite the massive challenges he faced, he was convinced it could be regenerated as a botanical wonderland.

The gardens are set against a backdrop of the iconic Glass House Mountains and surrounded by magnificent rainforest that is being progressively returned to its original state and will form a future extension of the gardens for visitors to explore.

Frank and the team at Maleny Botanic Gardens appreciated the importance of native plants from the earliest days of the Gardens, incorporating Wattle Seed, Lemon Myrtle and Davidson’s Plum in the scones offered in the property’s Devonshire Teas.

Malent Botanic Gardens & Bird World General Manager, Verena Olesch, said the opening of the Bush Tucker gardens paid homage to the region’s original inhabitants.

“The backdrop of the Glass House Mountains is a powerful reminder of the area’s millions of years of heritage and the tens of thousands of years that the Jinibara People have lived here and made use of the abundant native ingredients,” said Ms Olesch.

“The property already had native trees such as the Bunya Bunya – a culturally important tree for the region’s Indigenous peoples that was highly valuable as a source for food, timber and fibre – and so the addition of the Bush Tucker gardens was a natural extension.

“We want to educate and inspire visitors to start growing their own Indigenous plants and appreciate the richness of the culture that comes with them.

“Adults and children are already showing how fascinated they are with the textures, aromas and tastes, and once the plants are more mature, we will incorporate them into our food offerings as well as hold special sessions with the Jinibara People to share their remarkable culture and knowledge.

“Everyone who comes to Maleny Botanic Gardens is struck by the powerful presence of the Glass House Mountains and the rich Indigenous legends that are attached to the various peaks. We are installing new explanatory boards outlining the dreamtime story of the Glass House Mountains to help visitors appreciate the area’s remarkable landscape and heritage.”