Inhabiting a colder climate, our natives had to depend rather on the general abundance of some of the varieties of the vegetable food yielded by their soils than on the number, richness, and great yield of such trees as give spontaneously almost unlimited supplies of fruit in certain seasons of the year. They had, however, like the natives of the northern parts, a complete knowledge of every plant that grows; and were well able to seize the advantage when, during any season, or under favorable circumstances of soil or aspect, a particular root or tuber was in abundance.
They seem to have been unacquainted, generally, with the use, as a food, of the clover-fern, Nardoo, though the natives of the north-western parts of Victoria must have had intercourse with the tribes who use it, and could have obtained it, sparingly, from the lagoons in their own neighbourhood.
The people of the Lower Murray had, however, in use the appliances for pounding roots and grinding seeds; and the round and flat stones are sometimes now found on and in the vicinity of old Mirrn-yong heaps.
Murr-nong or Mirr-n'yong, a kind of yam (Microseris Forsteri), was usually very plentiful and easily found in the spring and early summer, and was dug out of the earth by the women and children. It may be seen growing on the banks of the Moonee Ponds, near Melbourne. The root is small, in taste rather sweet, not unpleasant, and perhaps more like a radish than a potato. This plant grows throughout the greater part of extra-tropical Australia—and in Tasmania and New Zealand; and it has been traced up to the summit of our Alps. At 6,000 feet, in alpine pastures, it assumes much larger dimensions than in the lowlands, and the roots are quite suitable for food. Indeed, the plant is one which might be cultivated for food in cold countries. It is allied to the Spanish scorzonera, a well-known culinary vegetable.
Mr. Turner tells me that the cockatoo feeds almost exclusively on this tuber when the plant is in flower.
Buckley mentions the Mirr-n'yong, which appears to have been commonly eaten by the natives when he was living with them.[1]
In addition to the fruits of the quandang, native currant, native raspberry, and native cherry, they had also in great quantities, in many parts, the fruits of the mesembryanthemum, and the mucilaginous seed of the native flax.
The native truffle (Mylitta Australis), a subterranean fungus, was much sought after by the natives. When cut, it is in appearance somewhat like unbaked brown bread. I have seen large pieces weighing several pounds, and in some localities occasionally a fungus weighing fifty pounds is found.
The heart of the fern-tree, the spike of the grass-tree, sweet flowers of several kinds, leaves of a kind of nasturtium, and the sow-thistle, were commonly eaten; and the gums exuded by the wattles and a pittosporum were also used as food.
- ↑ Life and Adventures of William Buckley, 1852, p. 85.
