Bush tucker, as native Australian foods are commonly known, are as delicious as they are wild. Yet Australia has never embraced its quandongs and its wallaby meats as part of its national cuisine—and that is a damn shame.

Hiking the Larapinta Trail is one of the best, and most challenging multi-day treks in Australia. Don't miss this ultimate guide before you try it yourself!

The Weedy Connection have posted a great image listing the most common edible weeds in Australia. (See the full size image.)

Discover how bush tucker native food in Australia can be utilised for many meals and drinks from kangaroo meat to witchetty grubs and fungi.

Healing through the natural environment - using bush medicine - was entwined with the spiritual world for indigenous Australians.

One hike that is on my list to do is the Overland Track hike in Tasmania. After doing some beautiful hikes in nearby New Zealand this trail sounds equally beautiful and one that I would love to do. Katherine from Bright Lights of America has recently hiked the trail over 6 days and here's she

Bandicoots are small, nocturnal marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea. They're omnivorous and have an important ecological role turning over soil to find insects and larvae. There are 7 species in Australia.

One of the best ways to explore any destination is on foot. Here are the best walks in Australia we loved, from short walks to long multi-day hikes!

In 2020, it feels like we’ve reached a new level of tension. Nearly everyone’s talking about the possibility of World War Three breaking out. Meanwhile, Australia’s still on fire, with devastating consequences.

Pioneer settler's home in the Australian bush What a bushranger ate, when they were in the bush, would depend upon many factors: what part of the country they were in their own bush survival skills if they were actively on the run from the authorities if they knew free settlers who would support them Many bushrangers hunted wild rabbits and native animals such as duck, pigeons and kangaroos and if they were near an ocean or river they would try and catch fish or eels. When bushrangers were being hunted by police and trackers it would have been difficult to stop and cook food over a fire. Some bushrangers stole provisions owned by the settlers or travellers or store owners if they were near a town, helping themselves to salted meats, potatoes, onions and flour. Some were supported by free settlers who had been convicts and were sympathetic to the bushrangers hatred of authority. Bushrangers may have known about native plants that they could eat such as stinging nettle, prickly pear and tea tree but this is not documented.

Australian native ingredients are destined to go mainstream, but will the traditional owners of this cuisine get their due?

Volunteers from the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital work alongside National Parks and Wildlife Service crew to treat koalas rescued from devastating bushfires

These stunning photos of heart-shaped locales from across the globe prove that nature has a lot of love to share with all of us.

In the mid 1980s, Woodend Primary School in central Victoria developed a program where Grade 4 students travelled to a 'farm school' for a semester. For those 6 months, the students were immersed in a rural curriculum where the day saw them tending to their plot within the vegetable garden, caring for the farm animals and

Planning a road trip? Find a comprehensive guide of the best places to visit in the Outback along with multiple travel itineraries.

This gift supports our work with the Martu people to help protect the Bilby in the Birriliburu Indigenous Protected Area in WA.

Find out how and where to taste Australian bush food and Indigenous flavours in Queensland with these unmissable bush tucker experiences on your next holiday.

The injured joey is one hundreds of animals rushed into emergency care after the devastating bushfires in Western Australia destroyed large swathes of their natural habitat.

The government of New South Wales is using planes to drop thousands of kilograms of carrots and sweet potatoes to feed starving animals. This stunning and creative idea is nicknamed ‘Operation Rock Wallaby.’

Every day at camp is full of adventure - activities from abseiling to trust exercises will keep everyone engaged and having fun!

When we moved to our current home about 20 years or so ago we found a Lilly Pilly bush in our front yard. This is a plant native to the eastern states of Australia, but which grows well in the west too. It has very fleshy leaves and a very attractive small flower, which you can see below, but which withers almost immediately if picked. The bees love them. Following flowering a small red fruit forms, about the length of your thumbnail. We have tasted them from time to time over the years. They have a crisp flesh, not unpleasant taste, though slightly acid, and probably an acquired taste. They have a small stone in the middle. You can see my bush and the fruit below here. The origin of the name Lilly Pilly is unknown. The first recorded sighting of a lilly pilly in Australia was Syzygium paniculatum. On May 3 1770 at Botany Bay botanist Joseph Banks stated in his journal: They "found also several trees which bore fruit of the Jambosa kind, much in colour and shape resembling cherries; of these they eat plentifully and brought home also abundance, which we eat with much pleasure tho they had little to recommend them but light acid." From: Australian Plants OnLine There are several varieties of Lilly Pilly, belonging to the Myrtaceae family. The Lilly Pilly was a bush tucker for the Aboriginal inhabitants, and was prized by early European settlers for making jams and jellies. It seems to have been used soon after the establishment of Sydney town in New South Wales. Jam making is a tradition in my family and I have been intending to make Lilly Pilly Jam ever since I discovered the plant in our front garden, and yesterday I did. My husband wanted to prune the bush as it had got quite big and was starting to develop a scale infestation as it had the previous year. So I picked about a kilo and a half of fruit and made the jam on Saturday morning. The recipe I used came originally from the National Trust of Australia, New South Wales, and is in my Australia's Home Made Jams and Preserves Book compiled by sugar company CSR. I have used many recipes in this little book. The recipe was actually for jelly, but I adapted it to make jam. Lilly Pilly Jam Remove stalks and stones from the fruit and wash well. Place in the pan with a little water. I used 2 cups of water to 1.245kgs of fruit. Cook until fruit is tender (about an hour). I also added one lemon cut in half to the pan as the lemon will help with setting. When the fruit is tender add the same weight of sugar as the weight of fruit. Boil till jam sets when tested. This took about another hour, but will really depend on the quantity you are cooking. Remove the lemon halves, bottle the jam in sterile jars and seal immediately. The jam is a beautiful deep pink-red colour and I think tastes a little like a mix between plum and strawberry jam. Delicious! I made scones this morning so my family could taste the jam. They all enjoyed it, so I think I will from now on be making Lilly Pilly jam every year. Another reference to the Lilly Pilly can be found in May Gibb's children's book, The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, an Australian classic about the gum nut babies first published in 1918. I told you about the bad Banksia Men from the book a couple of weeks ago. Please click here if you missed it - Celebration of the Australian Banksia Here is an illustration from the book of the characters Lilly Pilly and Ragged Blossom. In the book Lilly Pilly is an actress. You can see here below on the left with the lilly pilly fruit forming the skirt of her dress. For more about May Gibbs click here - May Gibbs I hope you have enjoyed my blog post about the Lilly Pilly. If you are in Australia and you have it growing in your garden, I hope you will make some Lilly Pilly Jam. Is there a native fruit that you make into jam? Perhaps you would like to share with us in the comments. Here are a couple of references on the web: Burke's Back Yard Australian Native Plants Society Evergreen Growers - scale pest on Lilly Pilly Taste Australia - Bush Food Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best! Mosaic Monday Travel Photo Mondays Lifestyle Fifty Monday Linkup Life Thru the Lens Our World Tuesday Through My Lens Image-in-ing Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global Worth Casing Wednesday What's It Wednesday Travel Photo Thursday The Weekly Postcard You might also like - Quandongs, delicious Australian bush food And slices of quince which they ate with a runcible spoon Tamarillos, lost food of the Incas

Bush food (referred to as bush tucker in Australia) traditionally refers to any food which is native to Australia and is used as sustenance by the original inhabitants, the Australian Aborigines. Discount Upholstery Fabric Australia.