The garden as a cultural guide

At ACU’s Brisbane Campus, on an area of land in Banyo that was previously known as “Beehive Hill” to the local Aboriginal population, there is a heritage trail that serves as a space to showcase native plants, and illuminate Indigenous knowings and culture.

Known as the Weemala Cultural Garden, the trail contains a yarning circle, and native bushfoods like ginger and gardenia, which were once staples in the diets of the traditional owners. 

Recognising its potential as a learning tool, ACU’s Dr Isabelle Lys and the Weemala Indigenous Higher Education Unit decided to create a digitised version of the garden, with a virtual tour that would mimic a physical walk-through. 

“I was at an academic conference where I met a colleague, Associate Professor Rosanne Quinnell from The University of Sydney, and they were going through the process of digitising their on-campus Indigenous heritage trail using Campus Flora, so I thought, ‘Well, ACU has a wonderful cultural garden in Brisbane – why don’t we do the same?’” says Dr Lys, who subsequently secured two separate funding grants (an Indigenous Student Success Program grant, and an ACU Teaching and Development grant) to explore the project’s potential. 

Fast forward to 2020, when pandemic lockdowns came into play, and Dr Lys quickly realised that a digital garden could be of use for teaching and learning purposes beyond the ACU community. 

Hibiscus

“We wanted to make the garden more accessible to everyone, so people could access it and learn about Indigenous plants and knowings no matter where they were,” she says. 

With the help of Kate Mochrie from the Weemala unit, ACU’s First Peoples Directorate, and eLearning advisors Peter Weyand and Michael Sobek, Dr Lys created an online version of the garden, including pictures of plants and information about their traditional uses.   

She has since collaborated with several Queensland schools, facilitating virtual tours of the trail and sharing ideas about recipes and other features.

“We’ve had local schools from places like Southern Cross Catholic College on the Sunshine Coast, and a remote primary school at Wonga Beach in far North Queensland, and the students have really loved it,” says Dr Lys, who has worked with the CSIRO’s STEM Professionals in Schools Program, which facilitated the school collaborations, since 2011.

“Particularly within primary schools, there’s a lot of interest in identifying native plants and maintaining their own sustainable gardens at school, and that’s part of a wider trend where people are keen to learn about Indigenous plants and heritage trails, tapping into the intergenerational knowledge, culture and experiential learning they can provide.” 

Celebrating culture

In recent years, Indigenous heritage trails have become a growing phenomenon in Australia, coming in many shapes and sizes.  

Having worked closely with First Nations knowledge holders through her role as a scientist and educator, Dr Lys has been enthused by the potential for native gardens to serve as learning environments that celebrate Indigenous knowings in medicine, health, nutrition and sustainability. She puts the newfound interest in native plants down to two main factors: climate change and reconciliation. 

“With the accelerating impact of climate change, there’s a real need to promote plants that are sustainable and drought-tolerant, and that actually thrive in the Australian climate,” says Dr Lys, a Senior Lecturer in Bioscience with ACU’s School of Behavioural and Health Sciences.

“These are plants that have been used in various ways for thousands and thousands of years, but they’ve been overlooked because we’re so focused on the Western style of farming and agriculture.”  

She adds that in the past decade, universities have become increasingly permeable to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing, and this openness has been widely replicated in other parts of the community. 

Native ginger

“There’s this growing consciousness and acceptance that First Nations practices and histories are invaluable and should be a part of our Australian identity,” she says. “We need to respect this knowledge and celebrate it as part of our story.”  

Strengthening ties

Dr Lys is conscious, however, that hers is an outsider perspective. Before developing the Weemala digital garden as a teaching resource, she consulted Indigenous knowledge holders like Bruce Morgan from Murri Tukka, ensuring that the information compiled was relevant and respectful. 

She notes that throughout history, the knowledge of native plants and their traditional uses has often been taken and commercialised without permission – and Indigenous people have rarely benefitted. 

“I’m not Indigenous, and I’m very mindful and respectful of the need for Indigenous representation and confirmation,” she says. “It’s vitally important that we seek permission, and that we continue to strengthen the relationships that ACU has with community and partners while engaging in the project of making Indigenous representation stronger at the university.” 

While the Weemala digital garden is not currently available for public viewing, she says there is a long-term plan to develop a fully interactive virtual tour, so that all can access the online space and utilise its resources. 

“There are benefits to digitisation and there are also challenges, but for the moment we’ll continue working with schools and tailoring programs to their specific needs,” she says. 

In the meantime, she encourages students to take the opportunity to visit the cultural garden in Brisbane, and similar spaces on other ACU campuses.  

“These heritage gardens are an excellent example of how universities can create meaningful spaces that celebrate Indigenous heritage and promote cultural understanding, while also serving as valuable tools for the practice of mindfulness, and for teaching and learning in a range of education and health science disciplines.”

Dr Isabelle Lys is a Senior Lecturer in Bioscience with ACU’s School of Behavioural and Health Sciences. She has worked as an educator and researcher across the world, including Melbourne, Darwin, Canada and New Zealand. She is passionate about research into learning and teaching practices in health and biosciences. 

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