The Mighty Boab!.. or Boabab.. or Whatever

I was going to write about Kununurra this morning, but it hasn’t worked out that well. I am just too easily distracted.

I did find out that the population is around 6,000, and about half are Indigenous.

Wait.. Broome ABC news:

- some young indigenous men got attacked on the weekend.

-expected high today will be 34 in Kununurra, Kolumbaroo will reach 36.

-Kununurra won the footy.

-a doctor from Scotland says the aboriginal health care here is about the worst she's ever seen.

Ok.. I'm back. When I first arrived, Jo mentioned that the agricultural area I could see from “Kelly’s Knob Hill” was Sandalwood: the biggest cash crop in Kununurra these days. They used to grow sugar cane, and tried hemp (rock and roll!) but sandalwood has won out and I decided to get a picture of the actual tree.

A trip up Knob Hill, to get my bearings again, about seven this morning, had the sun rising: perfect for pictures! So it was a while before I left.

And then I got really distracted, by the Boab trees, and found myself on a dirt track in what looked like the town camp area of town– although I don’t think that’s what they call them here: that’s an Alice thing.

If you ask an Aussie they will tell you that boab trees, these living versions of children's art, can only be found in the Western Australian Kimberley region, but it's not so.

I Googled them and discovered they are actually one of eight species of the Andansonia tree. Australia is home to the A. Gibbosa or Andansonia Gregorii: referred to as Boabob or the vernacular in Kununurra, Boabs.

The other seven species grow elsewhere in the world: Africa, Madagascar. They have different names too: Bottle Trees, Upside Down Tree, Monkey Bread Tree.

I found the ‘nuts’ in the local art shop. Traditionally, people here burnt designs on the shell and used them as ornaments. For $25 you could buy Boab Nuts decorated with local rock art designs, boab tree figures, or just indigenous designs: burnt or painted on the shell.

But there is more to the Boab than its beauty!

- The nuts, or fruit, are edible and were an important food source in the desert.

- Those huge bottle shaped trunks actually store water.

- The leaves, which are shed during the ‘dry’ season, which is now, were used for medicinal purposes.

- There is actually a tree near the town of Derby that was used to house prisoners on their way to jail! The tree is still there: a tourist attraction.

I really wanted to do today’s piece on the Sandalwood, but those Boab trees just kept distracting me and I got lost, again: this time on the highway to Darwin. I could see the Sandalwood fields from the hill, but can't seem to get my car to go that way! Another time maybe.

Kununurra is just not conducive to straight lines: Rock and Roll.. I think I'm going to like it here.