News Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News. Using traditional medicines and crafts, a group of North East Arnhem women are making luxurious bush products to support life on country.
The Yirralka Rangers social enterprise began in 2011 as a small workshop, and has grown to employing more than 20 female rangers whose scrubs, soaps, and balms are now stocked across the country. Yirralka Rangers Bush Product program incorporates Yolngu knowledge and native flora into scrubs, soaps and balms, helping to create jobs in homelands. Picture: Supplied.
Marrarrathal Flora Gaykamangu lives in Gangan homeland, where she harvests nambarra (paperbark tree) oil – a Yolngu treatment for colds and flus. “We go out bush and harvest some nambarra, then we come back, cut it into small pieces, weigh it, then we chuck it into the machine, and boil it up,” she said. She said being able to live in homelands helped her feel more connected to culture.
“In communities you only know a little bit of history and culture, people talk about it less. But in homelands, they have a full culture in their hands. “It’s more peaceful than community too, in community people always humbug for everything, but in the bush homelands, they don’t humbug, they help each other.
“They teach children hunting and fishing, teach the youngest boys how to make spears, ceremony, songs, and women help children learn how to dance, how to make food, make soaps – ever.