Doctor Andrew Pengelly is the latest speaker to be confirmed for the 2024 Stanthorpe Eco Expo. With a lifetime of accumulated research and knowledge behind him, his talk, focussing on Indigenous health- promoting plants, will be sure to be a winner.
Andrew talks about his background: “I’ve had a 40-plus year career as a herbal practitioner and naturopath, university lecturer, researcher, field botanist, ethnobotanist and aromatherapist. I was awarded a PhD through the University of Newcastle for research into an Australian plant medicine (Dodonaea viscosa). I’m author of the widely used text “The Constituents of Medicinal Plants”, now in its 3rd edition, and I’m commissioned to write a new book titled “Australian medicinal, edible and health-promoting plants.
“I was employed for 7 years as full-time teaching faculty at the Maryland University of Integrative Health (USA), and I continue teaching for them online since returning to Australia. As co-founder and vice-president of Indigenous Plants for Health Association I am involved in researching the chemistry and therapeutic potential of geebung (Persoonia spp.) in collaboration with the University of Queensland.
In early 2021, finding myself living alone in a Brisbane suburb during Covid, I decided to escape to the country and found myself living on the Granite Belt. As an enthusiastic field botanist and plant collector, I was drawn to the area, and soon became active in the Stanthorpe Rare Wildflower Consortium, of which I am now vice-president. “
In his 20s, Andrew became involved in the environment movement and alternative medicine. After studying horticulture, he got interested in growing herbs and enrolled in a herbal medicine course. He started focusing on Australian native plants and collaborated with three like-minded friends and in 1980 they started running “wild food workshops” around Sydney.
“There was a new movement coming out of mainstream botany at the time, led by the likes of Joan Cribb who wrote “Wild Foods in Australia”, Len Webb and other prominent botanists, highlighted by a series of weekend events held in remote places along the Great Dividing Range. These inspired many folks of my generation to pursue an interest in our native flora and its myriad uses.”
His workshops continued in various forms for many years, and during the 90s he started a journal as an avenue for highlighting research, “The Australian Wild Herb Bulletin”. At this time, he also started a series of Herbal Field Schools in the Upper Hunter Valley bushland where he then lived, teaching people how to make medicine from wild plants. These events attracted some essential oil distillers, and before long Andrew was distilling native plants, performing demonstrations while also researching the chemical components of these essential oils.
Dr Pengelly has a continuing passion for indigenous plants:
“I see agroecology as the way of the future- it combines farming with biodiversity protection and restoration. We have to move on from the industrial model of farming, which still dominates the Granite Belt and elsewhere. There are many Indigenous medicinal and edible plants that could fit into such systems, including as cash crops. My next book will highlight about 40 of these. I’m also a big fan of Aboriginal traditional land management practices, many of which we could incorporate into agroecology systems. Their practices, including cultural burning, highlight an awareness of the importance of preserving edible and medicinal plant species.”
Currently, Andrew’s research is focused on the Granite Belt, in particular some aromatic species in the Rutaceae family (Zieria and Phebalium) and various species of Kunzea – both for their spectacular flowers and spicy aromas. He is also writing a series of profiles for the Indigenous Plants for Health website, recently adding Pittosporum angustifolium (gumbi gumbi) and Kunzea ambigua.
If you would like to hear Dr Andrew Pengelly share some of his vast knowledge on indigenous plants for health come to the Stanthorpe Eco Expo on Saturday 7th September at the Whistlestop Community Gardens, Davadi Street, Stanthorpe. The event will be held at the same time as the Stanthorpe Farmers Markets.
