In the late 1980s, in the depths of remote Arnhem Land, a captain from the Australian Army sleeps in a swag and fishes the creeks.

As he ventures through the bush, he picks leaves, berries and bark from the dense, wild land.

He knows which are poisonous and which make for a nice cup of tea. He knows how to find fresh water on an isolated beach and how to create fire from tree sap.

Thanks to invaluable local knowledge gleaned from local Indigenous communities, he knows exactly how to survive.

This is Les Hiddins — aka the Bush Tucker Man, Australian icon and beloved ABC TV personality — doing what he does best.

An Australian icon

With no scientific background or formal training, Hiddins was led by natural curiosity.

He returned from the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and decided he needed a change of scenery.

“When I came back, I corps transferred from infantry to army aviation and as a result of that found myself in the left-hand seat of a helicopter flying all around northern Australia and Arnhem Land,” he said.

“When you go to these very remote areas, you’ve got to ask yourself the question, ‘how would I get on if something happened and I had to survive here?’ So I started doing it as a hobby.

“I would say to the locals, ‘what bush tucker have you got here?'”

Into the 21st century

Although his immensely popular TV show ended in 1996 after three seasons, Hiddins didn’t stop learning or communicating his fascinating findings.

Twelve books later, including the much sought-after Field Guide and four children’s books, he has now embraced modern technology.

He and wife Sandy set up an Instagram account to showcase their mix of current and archival photos for a new and younger fan base.

…

Hiddins has also just launched a user-pays website featuring his comprehensive digital database of bush tucker.

It allows people to search a location and season to discover the types of flora and fauna they can expect to find in that region.

For Hiddins, not much has changed.

He said life is good and he and Mrs Hiddins still go on regular camping trips to remote Australia.

Mrs Hiddins pointed out that work never really stops for the Bush Tucker Man, but that’s not a bad thing.

“It’s really hard to define that line, the fun and work (line), where one ends and the other begins,” she said.

Source
Halina Baczkowski and Anna Levy
ABC News