Traditional separation techniques education resources

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I grew up inside the Pilliga scrub

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and we'd chase brumbies, wild
horses, through the scrub,

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and when we got scratches and whatever,

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a lot of the old guys had

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tell us young fellas out to fix 'em

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with different medicinal plants.

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Pine was one of them.

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It's so important that we look back
to our traditional ways of living

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and bringing it to today's
world, for me personally.

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Because I think there's so much

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that we all can learn from
65,000 years of history.

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White cypress in New South Wales
has become an invasive species,

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and that's because over
the last 260-odd years,

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we haven't managed it very well.

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They grow very close together,

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so that blocks the sunlight.

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No sun means the whole
ecosystem breaks down.

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I'm Cherie Thompson.

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I am a Wailwan woman from
Central West New South Wales,

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and I am the co-founder of Native Secrets.

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I'm Phil Thompson. I'm
a Bidjara Kara-Kara man.

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I'm from Central Queensland.

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What's unique about us at Native Secrets,

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we're using traditional land management

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to build a skincare brand

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that's going to be
recognised internationally.

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Cypress pine is quite unique.

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It has two essential oils.

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There's one in the leaf
and one in the wood.

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Traditionally, you just
pick it off the cypress pine

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leaves and small branches,

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we heat it up on hot rock

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and we'd put that heated plant branch

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on our wounds and wrap it in possum skin

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or kangaroo skin.

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Now we know through modern research

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that it's full of natural
anti-inflammatory,

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so that's why our people
used it when, you know,

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that's the sort of stuff
that fascinates us,

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that our old people worked
out over thousands of years

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all these things that were great for us.

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Cypress pine traditionally
was collected very simply.

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We would've pulled the leaf
off the trees or the branches.

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Today the white cypress is
collected slightly different

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than what we used to.

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Phil actually goes in with some machines

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that have little ground disturbance,

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but we still do separate the
leaf from the wood by hand.

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We extract the oils
using steam distillation,

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very similar to what we did traditionally.

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We've just got new
technology to do it, (right?)

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Together, the wood oils and the leaf oil,

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we can combine them back
into our skincare range.

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It makes a fantastic product.

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(music)

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It's really important
for me, in particular,

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that we share our stories

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and our Traditional
Knowledge with the world,

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and the way that we've chosen

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to do that is through skincare.

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CSIRO has been collaborating
with Native Secrets now

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on a couple of projects.

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One of those projects
we have looked at some

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of the existing research that
is out there on white cypress

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and looking at the traditional uses

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and then also what's known about things,

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like anti-inflammatory activity,
antimicrobial, pain relief,

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and that research is very much led

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by that Traditional Knowledge

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and how they would use them
in their skincare range.

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Traditionally, we didn't
waste any part of the animal.

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We used all parts of the tree.

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So that's the approach we
take to how we do business.

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at Native Secrets.

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We use all parts of the tree,

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and even the end product,
which is a bioresource.

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We are now turning that into a biochar,

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it's a natural fertiliser,

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and it completes our circular economy.

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(music)

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So at Native Secrets,
we have found that white cypress,

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yes, it's a problem, but it's
also part of the solution,

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and using Traditional Knowledge
and modern science to create a product

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that people can use every day.

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At Native Secrets,

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the model we've created can be picked up

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and put in any community around Australia,

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because what we've
found is every community

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has a unique medicinal
plant or bush tucker,

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where we can do something very similar

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to what we've done at Native Secrets

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and tell that story around the world.

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Once we thin out cypress pine
and the sun penetrates the ground again,

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the ecosystem comes back,
so the grass comes back.

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Grass means grass seed.

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Grass seed means ants, bugs,
beetles, birds, echidnas

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can all come back to this ecosystem.

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(music)