BUSHWALK SATURDAY 27 JULY AT 10 am to 12 noon

Where: Refuge Rock walk Cherrybrook

Distance: 2.3km

Track Status: Fire trails and rough bush tracks. No steep hills

Meeting Place: Trevors Lane off Purchase Road Cherrybrook

What to Bring: Wear closed walking shoes and a hat. Bring water with you.

Refuge Rock is an outcrop of several hectares largely free of vegetation. This natural feature came to be used by as a safe haven by fire fighters carrying out control burns. At the edge of the rock there is a dramatic drop off into Pye’s Creek. There are lots of sandstone vegetation to be seen along the fire trails. It is very hard to predict what will be flowering but it is reasonable to expect Banksias, Woollsia, Pultenaea, Cryptandra, Bossiaea, Leucopogon and Boronias to be in flower

As there are no picnic spots on the walk we will adjourn for a picnic lunch afterwards at Cherrybrook Lakes.

This walk will not go ahead if it is raining.

Group Meeting with speaker: Jennifer Farrer on "Some Medical Uses of Australian Native Plants"

Date:	Saturday 24 August 2019
Time:	2 pm - 4 pm
Venue:	Gumnut Hall, Gumut Place, Cherrybrook   see map

SOME MEDICAL USES OF AUSTRALIAN NATIVE PLANTS

Early settlers on the whole were not willing to try Aboriginal treatments but preferred to try plants which reminded them of those they had known in Britain and other countries such as India and China.

One of the first plants used medicinally by the British immigrants was the Sydney Peppermint (Eucalyptus piperita). The odour of its crushed leaves is vaguely pepperminty and probably reminded them of their own English peppermint Menthe piperita.

The person credited with being the first to discover the usefulness of Eucalyptus oil was Denis Considen, Surgeon of the First Fleet. He sent a sample to Joseph Banks in 1788

This initial promising result ushered in the next stage to look for medically useful plants.

Jennifer Farrer, local tour guide and APS member will discuss the medical use of other native Australian plants at the Parramatta Hills Group meeting on Saturday August 24 at 2pm.

Sydney Peppermint Gum leaves.
The first Australian Plant to be used as a medicine by European settlers.

Bush Tea. The leaves were boiled to make a tonic

Location of Gumnut Hall

Gumnut Hall, Gumnut Place, Cherrybrook.