Now and Then – Using Bush Plants

Facilitated Day Program
Years: Grade 3 - 12
Students: 60 students
Duration: 1 hour
2012 cost: $5.00 per student (minimum group cost $75.00)
2013 cost: $5.50 per student (minimum group cost $77.00)
Teacher / student ratio: 1:15

Book online

Discover Australia’s natural and cultural heritage
Explore how these uses have been adapted over hundreds of years
Connect how Australian native plants have been used for food, tools and survival

Before arriving at the Gardens have you touched a plant product today?
Investigate how plants are used each and every day in most products around us and explore the Gardens to discover how plants have been used by Indigenous Australians, Early Settlers and common uses today including a hands-on experience of our extensive artefacts collection.

Resources
Website: Aboriginal plant use in S.E. Australia
Download 'Aboriginal plant use in S.E. Australia' (PDF - 987 KB)
Download Aboriginal plant use and Technology (PDF - 277 KB)
Download 'Aboriginal use of wattles' (PDF - 35 KB)
Download 'Aboriginal cooking techniques' (PDF - 30 KB)
Download 'Aboriginal bush medicines' (PDF - 9 KB)

The Australian Curriculum – Science Links

Nature of Science: Science helps us to understand our world and can be used to make predictions, science ideas and understandings change as new evidence becomes available

Science in the community: People in the local community use science in a range of ways for example in caring for plants and animals and informing sustainable practices

Influence of science: Science has led to changes in the way people live and its applications both influence and can be influenced by personal and community choices

Science and culture: Science can draw on and apply knowledge and experience from a range of cultures and interact to influence personal and community choices (eg in making decisions about resource use and sustainable management of the environment)

Structure and function of living things: The obvious structural features of plants and animals and the functions of these features and how the features of fossils inform understanding about living things of the past

Properties and uses of materials: Materials are selected for particular uses based on their various properties, such as flexibility, strength and biodegradability

Using Earth's resources: Human activity, such as the use and management of water, energy sources and mineral resources, can have consequences for the environment and other living things

The Australian Curriculum – History Links

First Australians: The diversity of cultures and ways of life, beliefs and practices of traditional owners of country

Our community: Key changes and continuities in the local community, how they made their livings; how they explored and settled; how they lived and their lives evolved

Early contacts: Aspects of the daily life of a person or group from different periods reflected in sources such as artefacts and stories

Colonial lives: The founding, character and activities of a convict or colonial settlement in Australia, including aspects of daily life