Bush Tucker and Butterflies
14 December 2015
Wunan recently commissioned three talented Indigenous artists from Waringarri Arts in Kununurra to paint a stunning mural on the front door of Wunan House B&B.
The beautiful designs painted by Agnes Armstrong, Dora Griffiths and Gloria Mengil represent their connection to the bush foods and unique sites of their Miriwoong country.
Agnes depicts the water lilies found in the rivers, creeks and water holes throughout Kununurra and the Ivanhoe Ranges. The water lilies are a good source of bush tucker. “You can eat the centre of the flower, the stem (which tastes like sugar cane) and the root.”
Dora paints a place in the Keep River National Park called Nimbiya. “This is a Dreaming place created by the butterfly. There is a freshwater spring that bubbles up between the rocks and flows into the Keep River. There are butterflies everywhere.” A vine called Jilinybeng or Bush Cucumber also grows there, which produces a small lemon-tasting fruit.
Gloria captures her favourite bush foods when growing up. As a young girl, Gloria enjoyed gathering the prickly bush peanut and the sweet bush plum in the bush in and around Kununurra. “The bush peanut is delicious when roasted on hot coals, but the bush plum is best eaten straight from the tree or used to make a jam.”