Educational resources

Below are educational resources to engage and excite young people in learning about health and wellbeing, being a university student and health careers.

A patient’s journey
A day in my life
Grow an Indigenous Medicine Garden in the Melbourne area

A patient’s journey

Learn about health careers by watching this video about a patient’s journey and the healthcare workers the patient meets. It takes a range of different health professions working together to provide the best outcomes for patients. From pre-hospital, to emergency, to rehabilitation, there's specialised health professionals who each play an important role in a patient's recovery journey.

A day in my life

What is it like to be studying to become a healthcare professional? Watch these videos and find out. You’ll see student’s first hand experiences of living on campus, going to classes, being on placement in healthcare and see the facilities for practical classes.

Medicine with Callum

Nursing and Midwifery with Alana

Radiography with Ama

Nutrition Science with Charlotte

Grow an Indigenous Medicine Garden in the Melbourne area

Warrigal Greens and River Mint in the William Cooper Institute Garden at the Clayton Campus, Monash University

Growing an Indigenous medicine garden strengthens understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s extensive knowledge of medicine plants. Creating a garden provides a great space to educate a diverse range of people, such as students, families, staff and community. Your garden will look great and promote wellbeing and learning.

Warrigal Greens and River Mint in the William Cooper
Institute Garden at the Clayton Campus, Monash University

Learning outcomes

Appreciate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander plant medicine knowledge

Understand more about Indigenous medicine plants and their use
Describe the difference between the terms indigenous plants and native plants
Know the difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation
Describe the meaning to Traditional Owner

Steps to create a medicine garden

Gather your planning group. This could be students, staff, family/ies or community. Think about if there are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who could be involved, for instance, staff, students, families, Elders or Indigenous Education Officers. Begin your planning group meeting by Acknowledging Country. Anyone can do an Acknowledgement of Country and Monash University recommends this wording: I wish to acknowledge the people of the (insert the name of the Traditional Custodians), on whose land we are gathered today. I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.As a group think about how you can respectfully connect with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and knowledges in relation to your garden.
- Learn the difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. Cultural Appreciation is learning more about another culture to grow your knowledge and connect with diverse understandings of the world. Cultural appropriation is taking an aspect of a culture that is not their own for personal interest, to make financial profit, to gain popularity or to be different and stand out.
- Learn about the meaning of ‘Indigenous plants’. Indigenous plants are those native to a specified local place. Whereas, native plants can come from anywhere in Australia.
- Visit Indigenous gardens and nurseries in Melbourne to get ideas. For instance, the Milarri garden at the Melbourne Museum, the Aboriginal Garden at Monash University’s Clayton Campus or the Indigenous owned Willum Willum bush nursery and more.
- Learn more about the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of the Country you are on.
Plan garden design and usage. Here are some things to think about.
- Where will your medicine garden be located (avoid a heavily shaded area)
- Will it be in a raised garden bed or in the ground
- What will your garden look like
- How big will your medicine garden be
- How will people connect to your medicine garden? For instance, is your garden going to be a place for reflection, education, enjoyment or something else
- Will your medicine garden have signage
- Will your medicine garden have places to sit
- Do you want people to walk through your medicine garden? Do you need stepping stones or a pathway?
- How will you care for your medicine garden? Who will water and weed?

Step 3: Create

Locate your local Indigenous plant nursery (there are several in the Melbourne region). Choose your plants, prepare your garden bed and choose your mulch.

Below is a list of Indigenous medicine plants local to the Melbourne area that you could plant.

Plant name	Medicinal use
Low lying plants
Pig face (30 cm high)	Rub on the juice from the leaves for burns and stings
Rivermint (30-60 cm high)	Decongestant. Steam leaves for headaches, coughs and colds. Rub on leaves for insect repellent. Drink river mint tea to aid digestion.
Austral Crane’s Bill (60 cm high)	Tuberous roots used as treatment for diarrhoea.
Gukwonderuk Centipeda cunninghamii (wet area) (30-60 cm high)	Anti-inflammatory. Leaves rubbed on skin or infused in hot water
Warrigal greens	High in fibre, vitamin C and antioxidants. Also high in oxalates so needs to be blanched before eating.
Climbing plants
Small-leaved Clematis	Leaves crushed and inhaled to treat headache
Medium sized plants
Austral Indigo (1.5 m high)	Leaves used for skin complaints
Spiny headed mat rush (1-1.5 m high)	The sedge leaves are used for basket weaving. Repetitive craft work calms the mind. The roots are used for insect bites and stings.
Hop goodenia (1-1.5 m high)	Infusion of twigs and leaves have anti-diabetic properties and infusion of leaves can aid sleep.
Kangaroo Apple (1-3 m high)	Women’s business plant to prevent pregnancy
Bracken Fern (1 m high)	Juice of young stems used for mosquito and insect bites
Trees
Paperbark melaleuca (2-6 m)	Leaves crushed and sniffed or rubbed directly on the nose to relieve stuffy nose. Leaves are infused in hot water and poured over aches and pains. Chew the leaves to alleviate respiratory problems.
Blackwood acacia (dry site) (over 6 m high)	Anti-inflammatory. Bark soaked in water and applied to rheumatic joints.
River red gum (over 6 m high)	Sap used to seal burns and mixed with water to treat diarrhoea.
Yellow Gum (dry site) (over 6 m high)	Oil from leaves used to alleviate symptoms of colds and chest complaints
Drooping She-Oak (dry site) (over 6 m high)	Mature cones ground up and applied to treat rheumatism. Extracts from the bark and wood used as a general medicine.

Watch your garden grow, care and connect with your garden and enjoy.

Suggested medicine garden teaching activities

Understanding how medicine works

Many medicine plants have decongestant or anti-inflammatory properties. Ask students to research how decongestants and anti-inflammatory medicines work. How do they impact the human body?

Memory and art

One way for people to identify and remember a plant’s name is by drawing or painting a detailed image of the plant. Ask students to choose a plant and draw in detail the plant’s leaves, flowers or bark. You can also ask students to draw a representation of the plant’s medicinal properties.

Traditional Owners

Medicine plants grow in someone's Country. Ask students to research what the term Aboriginal Traditional Owner means and the Aboriginal meaning of the word Country. Students can research who the Traditional Owners are where a student lives or studies. What can students find out about the Traditional Owners?

Cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation

Engaging with Indigenous knowledge requires an understanding of cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. Students can research the meaning of cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation and the differences between the two terms. Ask students to provide an example of each.

Hands on Health

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences