Knowing Australian Plants

The World: of Plants

Discover Indigenous perspectives and facts about native plants collected during Endeavour’s 1770 voyage.

Watch the video about Sydney Golden Wattle

Click the flower image to see videos, hear plant names spoken in Indigenous languages and more.

Knowing Plants includes videos on cultural significance and plant uses and rich illustrations of specimens collected by botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander.

How did this collection come about?

About Knowing Plants

In the lead up to the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour voyage, these communities were looking for ways to share their knowledge when the Museum reached out to them. This online collection wouldn’t be as rich without the participation and knowledge shared by these communities:

  • Kamay (Botany Bay) in New South Wales

  • Gooragan (Bustard Bay/Seventeen Seventy) in southern Queensland

  • Waalumbaal Burri (Endeavour River) at Cooktow in Far North Queensland.

Knowing Plants also includes some plants significant to Indigenous people, which were not collected by Banks and Solander.