Our shared expertise spans the commercial bushfood industry, ethnobotany, health and food sciences, plant production and horticulture, agribusiness and e-technologies, and social science.
Indigenous leaders
UQ Adjunct Professor Dale Chapman
Dale is a pioneer of the bushfood industry of 25 years. Born in Dirranbandi in south-west Queensland, she is a proud Yuwaalaraay and Kooma woman and a resident of Sunshine Coast Gubbi Gubbi Country since 1976. Regarded as a leader in her field, Dale is the founder of My Dilly Bag, a celebrated and award-winning chef, cookbook author, public speaker, television personality, YouTuber and lecturer.
Dale is a Queensland board member and representative for the First Nations Bushfood and Botanicals Alliance Australia. Her role is to collaborate with members to create a sustainable supply chain and commercial product lines. Her passion for sharing the oldest food in the world takes her overseas to deliver keynote addresses, showcase flavours, explain nutritional and medicinal benefits, and teach key cooking techniques.
Gerry Turpin
Gerry is a Mbabaram traditional owner (Atherton Tablelands) with familial links to Wadjanburra Yidinjii and Ngadjon-Jii on the Atherton Tablelands, and Kuku Thaypan on Cape York, North Queensland. He was initially employed at the Queensland Herbarium as a scientific assistant, and a Queensland Government-awarded scholarship saw Gerry major in Botany at UQ.
His current role as senior ethnobotanist includes managing the Cairns-based Tropical Indigenous Ethnobotany Centre at the Australian Tropical Herbarium. The latter is run in partnership with James Cook University, the Queensland Department of Environment and Science and the CSIRO. In this role, he has worked with many Indigenous groups, rangers and family clans to record and document their biocultural knowledge.
Gerry is undertaking a part-time Masters research project related to Aboriginal medicinal plants. For his project, he is part of a team examining Aboriginal medicine plants. Gerry has a strong cultural commitment to facilitating effective partnerships that support Indigenous communities to protect, manage and maintain their cultural knowledge on the use of plants.
Suzanne Thompson
Suzanne was born and raised in Barcaldine, Queensland. Her custodial connection to Country is continuous and carries on the work of her father, the late David Thompson, great-grandparents King Billy and Polly of Bonnie Boon and Lourne, all of whom had traditional links to the lands of the Kunngeri and Inigai peoples. Her great-grandparents lived on and owned a small property on the fringes of Barcaldine at a time when the rest of Indigenous Australia was classified under the Flora and Fauna Act. The family has retained this property to the present day.
Suzanne returned to Country after two decades of working in government agencies and private business enterprises. She worked in the areas of youth and policy development, community development and Brisbane City Council as an Indigenous business adviser for Blak Business Smart Business.
Suzanne works closely with her family and community to develop near regional enterprise and employment opportunities. She is currently compiling research and local knowledge that will contribute to the development of a broader understanding of bushfoods and medicine resources.
Read more about Suzanne
Indigenous communities
- Watsonville Aboriginal Corporation
- Batavia Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation
- Yumbangku Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development Aboriginal Corporation (YACHATDAC)
UQ researchers
