Trees from the Dreaming

It was always difficult to find someone to identify plants collected on fieldwork, particularly if one was as inexpert at preparing specimens as I was and still am. But when I sent in some plants to the Melbourne herbarium for identification in late 1979 I very promptly got back a carefully prepared identification list of my plants and a letter dated Nov. 15th, 1979 which offered to return the specimens by mail and asked me 'would you prefer some other arrangement which would assure their arrival in an undamaged state?' Never had my plant material been treated with such respect! The letter ended with the words 'please call me if there was anything else I can do' and it was signed 'Beth Gott'. This letter is typical of Beth Gott who was then and is now always willing to share her unique knowledge of the Aboriginal plant world and always ready to help others. This paper, dedicated to Beth, does not contain restricted information. The people who spoke about the trees in the Lake Eyre Basin and sang the traditional songs for them, Mick McLean, Maudie Naylon, Bingee Lowe and Sidney Stuart, were all most anxious that everyone should know about these trees, so that they would not be harmed because of ignorance.