For over 50,000 years before colonisation, the Noongar people were much healthier than most Aboriginal Australians are today.

Living in the open, in a land largely free from disease, they benefited from a better diet, more exercise, less stress and a supportive community.

In Noongar Bush Medicine, the authors have recorded information on many of the medicinal plants that were regularly used by the Noongar people of the south-west of Western Australia. They hope it will ensure that the traditional knowledge is not lost forever with the passing of elders and traditional healers.

Noongar Bush Medicine provides for the first time a comprehensive information on the medicinal plants that were used by Aboriginal people of the south-west of Western Australia before European settlement.

The book is a guide to how to use plants for alternative treatments and protection from common ailments. Written by Noongar elder Vivienne Hansen with retired nurse educator John Horsfall, Noongar Bush Medicine has been compiled from knowledge passed on by Noongar elders and covers over 90 different species and features images of each plant. There is currently no comparable book on plant medicines available.