Bruce Phillips is a horticulturist and bushfoods expert. His traditional name is Gululai, which means which means Cooloola, Bribie Island Pine and or White Cypress Pine.
A Batjala and Kabi Kabi man, he lives on Yarun (Bribie Island). His ancestors lived on Batjala Country and visited Yarun and other bay islands for Cultural purposes for thousands of years.
He loves to spend many hours in the bush, looking at plants, collecting bush food for the presentations he does on bush tucker. He knows his knowledge still only scratches the surface of the nearly 7,000 edible species that grow in Australia; he thinks he’s only tasted about 100.
If he harvests on someone else’s Country, he asks permission from elders and his Ancestors before collecting – as well as asking permission from the wildlife that might otherwise eat it, and from the plant itself.
