Non-wood Products
Indigenous use
As well as holding great spiritual and cultural value for Indigenous Australians, forests can also provide important resources to help meet the daily needs of Indigenous communities and contribute to their livelihoods.
Archaeological artefacts, historical records and oral history have shown that the flora and fauna of forests and woodlands have provided many essential products for Aboriginal people, including food, medicines, and raw materials for construction, arts and crafts.
Today, some Indigenous groups are investigating ways to develop commercial enterprises around the use of native plants and animals and traditional knowledge. One of the largest of these Indigenous enterprises is currently the production of arts and crafts.
Most Indigenous art products contain non-wood raw materials such as dyes, ochres (an earthy iron ore used as a pigment) and other pigments and fibres. Other products use woody material including bark for paintings, hollow branches for didgeridoos, and tree poles for carvings. All these wood and non-wood products come from forest or woodland sites.
The production of Indigenous arts and crafts is estimated to be worth $100-300 million per year. Although this may not be significant in terms of the national economy, it is vitally important to the small and often remote communities that produce this artwork. Research has shown that as much as 60% of the income of Indigenous communities can be derived from the use of wild plants and animals. It is also gives visitors to these areas the valuable opportunity to learn more about Australia’s important Indigenous culture.
Didgeridoos and aboriginal souvenirs, including boomerangs
Photo: istock
Read more about Indigenous forest use.
