View full article | Naturopathic Medicine Down Under
Abstract: Like most colonized countries in the Western world, Australia has a history of natural medicine use that dates back to the first settlement (by the British in 1788). The Government physician on the first fleet was quick to cultivate a physick or medicinal plant garden to provide medicines for all manner of ailments experienced by the government authorities as well as the convicts who established the first settlement. Of course, the original inhabitants of the country, the aborigines, had their own unique natural healing methods that included herbal treatments, food therapy and shamanic practice.