AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES have for years employed herbs to treat illness and disease, a fact not well known in the country.
However, with the arrival of foreign natural health systems, particularly traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), researchers are starting to take notice.
Macquarie University is leading the effort, with research into native plant treatments for bacterial infections and inflammation.
As with traditional Chinese medicine, indigenous Australian medicine took a holistic approach to healing and it had the strength of age on its side, said Subramanyam Vemulpad, a co-director of the Macquarie University Indigenous Bioresources Research Group.
'As with Chinese medicine, effective cures in the indigenous tradition have filtered through after thousands of years of trial and error,' Dr Vemulpad said.
'The Chinese have, for instance, been using qinghao [sweet wormwood] for more than 2,000 years to treat malaria. Qinghao contains the chemical compound artemisinin, which science now recognises as one of the most powerful anti-malarial compounds available.
'The Aboriginal medical tradition also contains the potential to yield these time-honoured cures. New discoveries will eventually filter into the mainstream.