Making bush soap

[Image appears of text on a black screen: The following video made by the University of Sydney was prepared for Questacon’s Science in First Language Project as part of the International Year of Indigenous Languages 2019]

[Music plays and the image changes to show text on the screen: Science In First Language]

[Images flash through of various indigenous people and children in various traditional activities, dances, talking, experiments, and school children playing basketball]

[Image changes to show text: Science in First Language]

[Image changes to show a black screen showing text: Bush Soap, Making soap from the “elkerte” wattle tree, Spoken in Kaytetye]

[Image changes to show a view looking up at an Elkerte wattle tree]

Shirleen McLaughlin: Hi, my name is Shirleen. I’m a Kaytetye Aranda woman from Central Australia. I’m here in Alice Springs with my Kaytetye mother-in-law Amy. She is going to show us how to make a soapy lather by using the green seedpods of the elkerte tree. 

[Music plays, and the image changes to show Amy talking to the camera while Shirleen listens, and text appears: Amy Ngamperle]

Amy Ngamperle: This is how we made soap suds in the olden days with these seed pods with water. 

[Image shows Shirleen pouring water over the seed pods as Amy rubs them above a bowl, and text appears: Shirleen McLaughlin]

We would rub it like this and wash our hair with it.

[Image continues to show Shirleen adding water as Amy rubs the seed pods between her hands to create a lather]

It’s like soap we would put on our head when I was a young girl. Sickleleaf wattle (Acacia colei). 

[Image shows Shirleen adding more water]

Shirleen McLaughlin: Beautiful.

[Camera zooms in on Amy’s hands with the lather above the bowl]

Amy Ngamperle: You do it like this, like with soap.

[Image shows Shirleen’s hands creating a lather above the bowl while Amy watches]

Shirleen McLaughlin: Yes. I love it.

[Camera zooms out to show Amy talking to the camera while Shirleen lathers her hands with the wattle seed pods]

Amy Ngamperle: That’s the way!

[Image changes to show Shirleen talking to the camera while Amy listens, and then Shirleen bends down and washes her hands in the soapy bowl]

Shirleen McLaughlin: Eating Kangaroo tail, get rid of the smell of the kangaroo tail and all the dirt will just come off easy in a good old wash.

[Image shows Amy and Shirleen talking together]

Amy Ngamperle: Mmm, yeah.

Shirleen McLaughlin: Yeah. And that’s how it’s done. 

Amy Ngamperle: Yeah.

[Camera zooms in on the bowl of wattle seed lather]

Shirleen McLaughlin: Yeah, and that’s how it’s done. Me and Amy. Thank you, Amy, for showing me, teaching me, yeah.

[Image shows Shirleen sitting next to Amy, and Amy talking to the camera]

Amy Ngamperle: That’s the sickle leafed wattle.

[Image changes to show a close view of Shirleen rubbing the wattle seed pods together in her hands and creating a lather]

Shirleen McLaughlin: You rub the seedpods together with water, it lathers up just like soap. This is because it has a chemical compound called saponin. So, remember science isn’t just in the classroom, it’s out bush in nature as well.

[Image changes to show Amy talking to the camera and then Shirleen talking to the camera one after the other]

Amy Ngamperle: That’s all, finished.

Shirleen: That’s all finished.

[Music plays and the image changes to show text on a black screen: Starring Shirleen McLaughlin & Kaytetye speaker Amy Ngamperle, Camera Ben Deacon, Editing Jonathan Barnes, Music Jonathan Barnes, Produced and Directed by Myfany Turpin 2019]

[Image shows the Australian Government Department of Industry Innovation and Science Coat of Arms, and Questacon logo]