Young students are more likely to have a banana or apple in their lunch boxes than native finger limes or Burdekin plums.
But a new garden project in north Queensland is using bush tucker to connect children to Indigenous history and culture while changing their palates in the process.
For Kerri-Ann Currie and Nathan Nehow, integrating local Indigenous culture is the most important part of their native floristry and landscaping business in Mackay.
"We can stay connected to our country through our native plants and through the work we do, and keep our spirit and communities strong," Mr Nehow says.
Now, they are taking their knowledge to schools, universities and hospitals by designing and developing "cultural gardens".
They are not just pretty to look at.
As Mr Nehow explains, they also provide a gateway to educating communities about the history of the region.
"All the plants that we use in our work, we talk about the traditional uses of the plants and flowers we use because we want to keep our knowledge alive, we want to keep our culture alive and our traditions," he says.
An essential part of their work is consulting with the traditional custodians of the land at every location.
"One thing we do is we talk to the traditional owners on that country to make sure the work we're doing is culturally appropriate," Mr Nehow says.
The couple's design work can be seen in gardens across the Mackay region, but it is at the local schools where they find they make the biggest impact.
"The schools are really jumping on board with Indigenous culture and learning about traditional medicines and foods, and even how we used to get food," Mr Nehow says.
He believes educating young people is essential to preserving Mackay's history.
"All our elders are passing away and we just don't want that knowledge to be lost," he says.
"We want to keep it alive for future generations."
Taking children out of the classroom
For school students such as Nandee Pedro, there is a lot to learn.
"I didn't know about these things before, but it's really exciting," she says.
Dundula State School, where Nandee attends, has unveiled a new cultural garden complete with native plants and a yarning circle.
Principal Trudy Large said a lot of thought went into building a garden that could teach the children important lessons.
"It wasn't just a matter of 'we'll just pick any old tree'. The trees were purposely chosen for what they could provide," she says.
"[For example] finger lime is actually one of the traditional foods of Aboriginal communities in our region.
"And the Burdekin plum that they talked about, eating it fresh out of your hand, or you can find them and put them in salads, or they could be cooked in to make sauces, to make gravy, it can be used in jams and jellies and wine.
"Not only did they tell us what purposes that the plant had, but they also gave us a little bit of a story around what you do with it."
While still in the early stages, Ms Large says gardens like these had the power to teach about the history of First Nations people across different regions.
"I would hope that in the future that when our trees are producing, that we can actually make some of these things with the kids, and have the elders come in and teach us how to do that," she says.
"It's taking the children out of the classroom, so I think it's a very pivotal part of their learning."
