TRANSCRIPT
Traditional owners of one of the most remote communities in Australia's north are using traditional knowledge of bush medicine to boost their local economy.
Partnering up with Menzies School of Health, researchers and other industry groups - they hope to one day mass produce traditional bush medicine.
The traditional owners of one of the most remote communities in Australia's north are finding new ways of developing their local economy by using traditional knowledge of bush medicine.
For the Wurankuwu clan group, the vast bushland on their Tiwi Island home serves as their backyard and doubles as nature’s chemist.
The bloodwood tree native to the Tiwi Islands and it's sap, also known as Kino has traditionally been used to heal external wounds.
Chairman of Wurankuwu Corporation Ron Poantumului says it's a knowledge that has been passed down through generations.
"Back in the old days they used to always have medicine from the Western, and now we're going to try and produce our own product to send it to the Western world, so I like what I mean the medicine from the Kino. It's kind of like a little bottle that we can make it into, turn into a cream. So in that way when someone has the scabies, when you put the cream on the scabies it will clean it after two days and then it will go away."
The Wurankuwu people of the Tiwi Islands live in one of the most isolated places in the country.
The bloodwood tree and it's medicinal sap is one of more than a dozen known medicinal plants found on the islands.
Wurankuwu woman Molly says the knowledge is part of Tiwi foundations.
"In the early days, our ancestors always had a knowledge of passing on to younger generation, and pass it on to mothers too as well to carry on. Yeah, and all those knowledge is a part of Tiwi foundation that was given to us by an ancestors. Ancestors through grandparents and young generation, mums and dads."
Now for the first time Tiwi traditional medicines could be mass produced.
Menzies School of Health researchers have been working with industry partners like Integria Healthcare to test dozens of Tiwi plant samples.
They say the results have been exciting with three plants expected to reach global markets in the next two years.
Head of Research and Development at Integria Healthcare Elizabeth Steels says the team are experts in herbal medicine but are yet to process herbs native to Australia.
"I think we were called in, if I remember correctly, because we're really the experts in herbal medicines. So we process probably over 200 herbs from other parts of the world, but none from Australia. So the idea was to really understand that the traditional medicines, understand how they're used, and then maybe explore what they're actually made up of."
actually develop a use for them as well. So it was a very ambitious project, but it has been running now since 2015. "
The next step is getting approval from the medical regulator, a critical process that's both costly and complex.
Elizabeth Steels says the project will provide scientific backing to traditional medicines.
"As a biochemist, I'd like to know where is the science behind the use of a particular medicine, why did they use it for, you know colds and flus and various ceremonies and is there the chemistry to backup the traditional use? So we basically want to validate the traditional use by providing the science to show why they, they work and potentially, you go down the track of clinical trials, and establish that these were very effective, traditional medicines. The next step is going, could we then create an industry for the Tiwi, where they can actually create their own medicinal medicine industry and that's not been done in Australia before."
Construction is currently underway for renewed housing infrastructure for the around 50 people that live here, with hopes the new business ventures will bring the jobs and resources needed to sustain the community.
Ron Poantumului says he hopes to see his people return home to the Tiwi Islands and be able to stay there.
"Well for me as the chairman of this corporation, I kind of created this project because this project it means a lot to me and my people. So in that way, that can benefit, benefit our people and create more jobs for our people. And I want to see my people come back and living back home. So that way we have two communities on Tiwi Island."
