Sarah Konoski

In what ways is the dreaming of Aboriginal people a different framework to think about eucalypts than, say, the way you were taught at university?

So when you personally decided that you wanted to get a sense of this incredible depth of knowledge and moved to Albany to try to do that, where did you start?

Did you just turn up at people's doors or how did you go about making connections with the local Noongar people?

How did you answer that?

So when, with that generosity of Lynette, you were invited in and you knew to listen, what kind of things did you hear?

What understanding of eucalypt and gum trees were held within that culture?

No shade on your theory, Steve, but there's something differently beautiful and poetic about the head and the breast milk.

Not there's anything wrong with your acronyms, but Lynette's carries a certain force.

She shared another beautiful story with you about some kauri trees in Denmark, in WA.

Could you share that one?

So there's this amazingly rich cultural connection with eucalypt and then also a practical medicinal kind of understanding of these trees and the benefits that flow from them.

What are some of the uses and ways that Aboriginal people used gum trees in terms of physical healing and medicine?

You've mentioned the fire risk that eucalypts play wherever they're grown.

What have you learnt from your Aboriginal friends and teachers around traditional approaches to the fire management part of these trees?

Listening to you, Steve, it's so clear how deeply connected you are to that part of Australia and the insights and learning you can gain from being there.

So it's kind of intriguing to me that you took off for six years to be at the pinnacle of a very different kind of life.

environmental system, which is the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

What led you to take on that extraordinary historic role, but of a very different, I'm imagining, kind of relationship with the environment being director over there?

That's quite a backyard to have in London.

Are there gum trees in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew?