As colonizers arrived in Australia, many Europeans believed the land was barren and had nothing edible to find. However, Aboriginal people shared their knowledge and supported many of the settlers with foods from the bush, allowing many to survive.

However, the violence and genocide that came with colonization decimated these practices and halted the transmission of knowledge. Due to their forced displacement from traditional lands, many Aboriginal peoples were rendered dependent on government rations and lost connection to their traditional territory.

For over 200 years, bush tucker was largely abandoned by Aboriginal people as non-native foods were introduced. It was only by the early 1980s that bush tucker began to make a comeback, as many Aboriginal people began standing up to the government to gain civil rights and reclaim their sovereignty.

Since then, bush tucker has become more common across Australia, with kangaroo meat available in most grocery stores and spices such as lemon myrtle finding their way onto restaurant menus. Macadamia nut, for example, is consumed globally, but few know that it is native to Australia.

It is only today that wider society is beginning to recognize the deeply rooted knowledge Indigenous Australians have fostered and are finally beginning to celebrate the bush tucker that has allowed people to live in symbiosis with the land, the plants and the animals for millennia.