Thalanyji Aboriginal people give an insight into the plants of the Ashburton

Trudy Hayes is a Thalanyji woman. Today she has very excitedly left Port Hedland to visit her traditional country in the Ashburton region of WA around Onslow to celebrate the

Thalanyji native title consent determination.

Congratulations Trudy and Thalanyji everywhere!div>

Trudy like many of her people was born on a station in the Ashburton region and then went to Carnarvon mission where she spent her childhood being educated.

Trudy is a Thalanyji speaker and works hard with her sisters to pass on to their children and others the culture and traditional knowledge of the Thalanyji. Her sisters have just published the most beautiful book on Thalanyji plant names and their uses, "Ngambunyjarri: Thalanyjibarndi Yininyjarri". This gorgeous publication has full colour photographs of the plants, a great description of their common food, medicinal and everyday use such as kerosene grass that is used to make fires, Kapok plant used for bedding.

Here is a picture of the mulhurn bush from my back garden that is also known as the green bird flower and is the emblem of the town of Port Hedland. It is wonderful to have such a rich resource of Indigenous plants, their names and their uses.

If you are interested in the book or finding out more about Pilbara traditional languages go to Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre.

ISBN: 1875946942

http://acl.arts.usyd.edu.au/projects/wangkamaya/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1