nardoo

They sat down to consider their position, and Burke said he had heard that the natives of Cooper's Creek lived chiefly on the seed of a plant which they called nardoo; so that, if they could only find a native tribe, they might, perhaps, learn to find sufficient subsistence from the soil around them.

History of Australia and New Zealand From 1606 to 1890 George Sutherland 1880

After this the blacks became less troublesome, or rather they seemed to accept the fact of these strangers living among them, and occasionally they would come up to the camp with gifts of fish and nardoo cakes.

The Greatest Survival Stories Ever Told Underwood, Lamar 2001

The same day one of the women to whom I had given part of a crow, came and gave me a ball of nardoo, saying that she would give me more only she had such a sore arm that she was unable to pound.

A Source Book of Australian History Gwendolen H. [Compiler] Swinburne

Coming to the gunyahs where we expected to have found them, we were disappointed, and seeing a nardoo field close by, halted, intending to make it our camp.

A Source Book of Australian History Gwendolen H. [Compiler] Swinburne

From this time, she and her husband used to give me a small quantity of nardoo both night and morning, and whenever the tribe were about going on a fishing excursion, he used to give me notice to go with them.

A Source Book of Australian History Gwendolen H. [Compiler] Swinburne

I also shot a crow that evening, but was in great dread that the natives would come and deprive me of the nardoo.

A Source Book of Australian History Gwendolen H. [Compiler] Swinburne

This is far from the most agreeable position for a camp for, although we have any quantity of water, we have no shade, and the glare reflected from the low light-coloured sandhills and flats is very trying to the eyes; even the natives who are a numerous body here (150 to 200) scarcely stir out, except morning and evening for fishing, fish being their chief sustenance with addo, Burke's nardoo.

McKinlay's Journal of Exploration in the Interior of Australia John McKinlay

I buried the corpse with sand, and remained some days; but finding that my stock of nardoo was running short, and being unable to gather it, I tracked the natives who had been to the camp by their foot-prints in the sand, and went some distance down the creek, shooting crows and hawks on the road.

A Source Book of Australian History Gwendolen H. [Compiler] Swinburne

Others in your position might have thought that, being stronger than the rest of the party -- able perhaps to pursue game, catch fish, or to pound nardoo -- it would have been consistent with duty to escape to the nearest settlement, perhaps with the vague idea of sending back assistance to your comrades.

Journal of Landsborough's Expedition from Carpentaria In search of Burke and Wills William Landsborough

We searched about and found a few small patches of nardoo, which I collected and pounded, and with a crow, which I shot, made a good evening's meal.

A Source Book of Australian History Gwendolen H. [Compiler] Swinburne