Canberra Aboriginal tours: Bush tucker and art at the National Arboretum

The National Arboretum in Canberra offers two Aboriginal-guided tours, with focuses on bush tucker and art. There’s also an Indigenous art workshop.

The National Arboretum in Canberra is one of the best places to get to know Australian flora. There are more than 44,000 rare and endangered trees growing across the 250 hectare site in the Molonglo Valley.

There’s plenty to do at the National Arboretum, with walking and biking trails to explore, a big playground for kids and a sculpture gallery. But the newest addition to the roster of activities is a series of Aboriginal-guided tours.

Canberra Aboriginal tours at the National Arboretum

These Canberra Aboriginal tours at the National Arboretum come in three flavours. The Walk on Country Tour is a guided walk around the Arboretum’s Bush Tucker Garden and Southern Tablelands Ecosystems Park. It focuses on the native plants used for culinary, medicinal and cultural purposes. There are some bush tucker tastings on the way round. These Aboriginal-guided walks last one hour and cost $60.

The Discover Art and Country Tour visits the National Arboretum’s scenic and cultural sites with a visit to the neighbouring Burrunju Aboriginal Art Gallery. This is the only Indigenous-owned art gallery in Canberra, and the tour is a great chance to understand Aboriginal art styles and history. These Canberra Aboriginal tours last one-and-a-half hours and cost $70.

Aboriginal art workshops in Canberra

Perhaps most fun, however, is the Art on Country Workshop. These once-a-month art workshops are led by an Indigenous artist. The idea is to use the Arboretum landscape as storytelling inspiration, then use charcoal, ochre and acrylics to create your own masterpiece. On the way, you’ll learn about the natural materials and plant dyes used in traditional Aboriginal painting.

These Canberra Aboriginal art workshops last three hours and cost $125. For further information on all three Canberra Aboriginal tours, visit the National Arboretum website.

Other things to do in Canberra include walking to the Mount Ainslie Lookout, steering a Go Boat around Lake Burley-Griffin and taking a free tour of Parliament House.