VIRTUAL LABORATORY ON AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL CUSTOMARY MEDICINES

Universities Australia Indigenous Strategy 2017–2020 aims to “ensure all students will encounter and engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural content as integral parts of their course of study”. Universities across Australia are endeavouring to incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge into their curricula in a respectful, meaningful and sustainable manner. At Macquarie University, situated on Dharug land, the Mudang-Dali (‘to live’ in the Dharug language) Indigenous Connected Curriculum Framework is providing academics with the confidence and support to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge, values and philosophies into curriculum. With this support, in Session 1 2020, we developed a laboratory on customary medicines that incorporates a yarning circle, bush food and medicines garden tour, water extraction and chromatographic fractionation of an Australian medicinal plant, and analysis of antioxidant activity (aligned with customary use) of the extract and fractions therein. Designed to be interactive, hands-on and communal, with the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions this laboratory was quickly pivoted into a successful virtual laboratory. This presentation will describe the core components of the laboratory, which interweave Indigenous knowledge and perspectives, and the adaptability of this laboratory for online and face-to-face teaching in the tertiary (and secondary) sectors

Isolation and structural elucidation of compounds from Australian populations of Portulaca oleracea

Theoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 51-55Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Results and Discussion -- Chapter 3. Experimental -- Chapter 4. Conclusions and future directions -- References -- Supplementary Material.Portulaca oleracea is a globally significant medicinal herb and food source. It has been used to treat diabetes, infection, pain and numerous other ailments. Many of P. oleracea's medicinal uses have been verified by scientific studies. Populations of P. oleracea found in Australia are morphologically distinct from those found in other countries. There is also record of this plant's use for food and medicine by multiple Australian Aboriginal communities. Despite this, Australian populations of P. oleracea have received little scientific attention. This study looked at P. oleracea collected in Wagga Wagga, Australia, believed to be a globally prevalent variety, and compared it with samples bred from two Australian populations, one from Lake Eyre and the other from the Kimberley. Previous LC-MS work conducted by collaborators at Charles Sturt University had shown the two Australian populations to contain potentially novel betacyanins and oleraceins. Both classes of chemicals are known to be antioxidants and have been shown to have other medicinal properties. This study covers the successful extraction of betacyanins and oleraceins from each of the three populations and confirmation by structural elucidation of the presence of oleraceins C and D in two of the three populations investigated -- abstract.Mode of access: Internet.1 online resource (vii, 65 pages) illustration