Following on from my previous EGA presentation on pituri and tobacco substitutes used by Aboriginal Australians, we revisit the topic from another angle by looking at plants used by non-indigenous Australians as tobacco substitutes. The tobacco of the newcomers was mostly imported in the early years of colonisation, and availability could be patchy. Curious townsfolk, farmers, bushmen, and explorers experimented with local plants that might be able to fill the gap, but most of this has been poorly documented and largely forgotten. This talk will present a summary of this buried history and the plants once smoked by white Australians.

-----------------------------------------------

Snu Voogelbreinder

 

Snu is an amateur ethnobotanist specialising in the study of psychoactive plants, fungi and animals. He is particularly interested in their use in shamanism and other spiritual practices, and is passionate about their conservation and responsible use. His book Garden of Eden, an encyclopedia devoted to this topic, was published in 2009 ( https://troutsnotes.com/garden-eden/ ), and a revised and expanded edition is being worked on. Snu's writing has also appeared in the journal Eleusis, and he was one of many contributors to the Manual Of Psychedelic Support, and ESPD50 (Ethnopharmacologic Search For Psychoactive Drugs 50th anniversary 2017).

Written by