Entertainment
6 July, 2025
Learn about bush tucker
CAIRNS locals can connect with generations of First Nations knowledge when Bush Tukka expert Samantha Nyudbi Martin leads free workshops at this year’s Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, July 11-13 at the Tanks Arts Centre.
Her free, hands-on workshops will explore the cultural significance, nutritional value and sustainable growing methods of native bush foods. Widely known as The Bush Tukka Woman, Ms Martin will guide participants through plant identification, seasonal uses and stories passed down through generations.
“Bush tukka is more than food – it’s medicine, it’s memory and it’s connection,” Ms Martin said. “Everything has its purpose and its place, and that’s what we have to understand.”
The workshops are part of CIAF 2025’s broader theme, Pay Attention! – a powerful call to artists and audiences to reflect on cultural survival, truth-telling and the future of First Nations communities following the 2023 voice referendum.
Ms Martin said the workshops would also touch on food security and sustainability in remote communities, where fresh produce was expensive and often unreliable due to disrupted transport.
“We’re in 2025 and we still haven’t figured this out,” she said. “When the barge doesn’t come, what do they do? The land has always provided and it still can.”
From aquaponics to backyard bush food gardens, Ms Martin is working with communities from Cardwell to Hope Vale to develop practical, localised growing methods. Her vision? Native food knowledge in every household and enterprise opportunities for communities ready to grow, supply and trade.
“If we could go into remote communities and create a garden in these communities so that they can have their own food security, this is kind of what we’re wanting to plant in the minds of the community.”
Ms Martin also hopes her workshops help younger generations reconnect with cultural knowledge that was once stigmatised.
Martin’s Bush Tukka workshops will run from 10am-12pm and 2pm-3pm daily, July 11-13, at the Tanks Arts Centre, CIAF Hub.
For more information and the full 2025 CIAF program, visit https://bit.ly/4l69xTm
