words by Shannon Foster, D’harawal eora Knowledge Keeper & registered Sydney Traditional Owner

One of my earliest memories of learning culture from my D’harawal eora father, was about understanding plants and what you could and couldn’t eat. I was always amazed to realise that you could actually live off the gardens and earth around you? Looking back though, it’s strange to think that I had to specifically learn that and it wasn’t just an innate understanding of the world around me as it is with species other than human.

Today, one of my favourite edible plants is bamuru (kangaroo grass), not just because you can make a delicious, gluten free, light and tasty bread from it, but it represents the un-forgetting of knowledges and stories that have been silenced and sometimes, erased from our lives.

There are places across Sydney Country, especially on abandoned and neglected land, that bamuru and other edible crops like bundago (native daisy yam) flourish again. These plants begin to grow in vast fields echoing their ancient, agricultural past and the careful management of Country by local custodians like my D’harawal eora family. The awakening of these remnant crops is a reminder that Country is its own archive, holding seeds and stories as evidence that we do indeed exist, and we have long and complex relationships with Country that can never be erased.

Now, as I walk the streets of Green Square, I look for signs of old Country breaking through the centuries of colonial development. I dream of this place as it was, sand dunes and wetlands, galumban gurad (sacred Country) and I marvel at the fragile seedlings who, against all odds, break through the oppressive concrete and pavers to stand tall, once again, with Country. I also honour the same spirit in my Elders and Ancestors who have raised me to understand, that it doesn’t matter how much concrete is laid down, Country is still here and is still nurturing and sheltering us, just as it always has been, and always will be.

Ngeeyinee dingan duruwan bata
May you always taste the sweetest fruit