Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills, Photograph - 1862 |
On the return journey, the expedition ran out of food, and when the remaining camel died, they had no means to carry enough water to allow the crossing of the Strzelecki Desert. Burke and Wills were stranded at Cooper's Creek.
The Yandruwandha Aboriginal people, however, managed to live in these harsh conditions, by collecting and processing the sporocarps (seed-like spore cases) of the Nardoo fern, to make Nardoo cakes.
Seeing the Aboriginal people eating Nardoo cakes, Burke and Wills decided to collect Nardoo fern and make their own, Nardoo cakes. But to safely eat the plant, it must be processed to remove the high levels of the enzyme Thiaminase, which causes Thiamin (Vitamin B1) deficiency or Beri-Beri.
Common nardoo, Marsilea dummondii, on a pond in the Dandenongs, Casliber |
The Yandruwandha people did not know about the poisons in the plants either. However, they had cultural knowledge passed on by social learning.
Over their long history, especially when food sources were scarce, Yandruwandha individuals would have used trial and error and over time, made discoveries about processing the Nardoo to make it safe for consumption. This knowledge was passed through the generations, by cultural knowledge and imitation.