100% Aboriginal Owned

Led by Barkindji and Malyangapa man David Doyle and owned through his business Wontanella Pty Ltd. Dave’s a famous artist from the amazing town of Broken Hill and he’s active in the local arts community.

It’s designed to document, explain and safeguard the traditional and ongoing uses of native plants in the area, while also teaching Barkindji youth about these plants. Over time, it’s become a valuable resource for educating everyone in the community about the beauty and practical uses of these plants, especially in bush tucker gardens and greening projects in towns, streets, schools, workplaces and homes. We hope this information will help Barkindji community members establish a thriving horticultural industry in far western NSW, one that is owned and operated by Barkindji people.

Features of the Field Guide

The guide features stunning prismacolour artwork by Landscape Architect Sophie Zaccone, who has worked with David Doyle for many years to do amazing community work, such an international trip to Uruguay to talk about a community garden project.

The Guide was developed on Barkindji Kiira (Country) through culturally safe workshops and in partnership with community stakeholders. The guide is designed as a Field Guide in A5 size, with a ring-bound cover and sturdy pages, perfect for use in the bush. It includes plant sensory signatures, identification and preparation details.

A vision for an Aboriginal owned bush tucker business

We dream of a future where the Australian landscape is actively managed by Indigenous people through nurseries, pharmaceutical companies and food industries. This book invites our young people to look at the plants around them and see not just ‘bush’ but a rightful inheritance and a sustainable future.

For too long, the ‘Bush Tucker’ and ‘Native Botanical’ industries have treated Aboriginal people as outsiders. This guide believes we should be at the centre. By learning about how these plants grow and what they can be used for, we move from being research subjects to being the creators of our own industries. Every plant in this guide has the potential to lead to economic independence, community-driven businesses and the responsible management of our Country.

Official release on 2nd March 2026: See Wontanella for Printed guide, eBook, and PDF

A long term collaboration

Dave and Sophie yarned for a few years about ways to get together a guide for the school kids Dave was taking out on field trips. The idea of a Field Guide came about and lots of yarning, workshops, and field trips occurred to produce the right look and feel. It's no flash-in-the-pan idea either, as it's part of our ideas to grow an Aboriginal owned horticultural business in Broken Hill, but that's a long ways off yet. But this is just the start and for many years to come you'll see David, Sophie, and Mark co-designing bush tucker projects with First Nations peoples.

Here's some of the links to look at. They demonstrate what long-term collaborations mean when going from an idea into reality.

Doyle, D., Quayle, B., Paulson, C., Latham, V., Doyle, C., Doyle, P., Quayle, T., Cicak, J. & Zaccone, S. (2026). Barkindji

Edible & Medicinal Plants: Community Field Guide (1st Edition). Wontanella Pty Ltd: Broken Hill, Australia. https://www.wontanella.com.au/fieldguide 

Zaccone, S., Doyle, D. (Barkindji, Malyangapa), Quayle, A. B. (Barkindji, Malyangapa), Kiira, B., Lock, M. J.

(Ngiyampaa), Jamieson, G., Murray, C. V., Latham, V., Paulson, C. (Worimi), Quayle, T. (Barkindji, Maly

angapa), & Cicak, J. (Barkindji, Malyangapa). (2026). Women, (re)birth and collective wellbeing on

Barkindji Kiira. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801251405193

Zaccone, S., Doyle, D., & Lock, M. (2024). Speaks Mutawintji. Kerb: Journal of Landscape Architecture, 32. https://kerb-journal.com/ 

Zaccone, S., Doyle, D., & Lock, M. (2022). Yarning on Country: Reinvigorating Biocultural Diversity in Australia. Langscape Magazine, Vol. 11, 2022. https://terralingua.org/stories/yarning-on-country-reinvigorating-biocultural-diversity-in-australia/ 

Zaccone, S., Jamieson, G., Murray, C. V., Lock, M. J., & Doyle, D. (2022). Recasting Jung through an Indigenist

approach to deepen shared knowledges of well-being and healing on Australian soils: Proto

col for a qualitative landscape research study. JMIR Research Protocols, 11(12), e36328.

https://doi.org/10.2196/36328 

Zaccone, S. (2021). The wild within. Kerb: Journal of Landscape Architecture, 29. https://kerb-journal.com/editions/29