AT 68, Cloncurry-born Mitakoodi woman Pearl Connelly will launch her first book in Cloncurry today.
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The book is titled Kar-Kar: Mitakoodi Traditional Medicinal plant uses of the Cloncurry Region.
Mrs Connelly said she wrote the book as a way of making a permanent record of her Indigenous knowledge and skills to ensure the knowledge is never lost.
Her late sister, Margaret Ahsam was the inspiration behind writing the book and after talking to Mrs Connelly, it became clear that she herself will become an inspiration to many.
In 2006, Mrs Connelly's sister, Margaret Ahsam wrote a medicine and bush tucker book called Mitakoodi Bush Tucker and passed away soon after.
"I thought since she was passing down knowledge and I've been passing down knowledge orally, I thought if I wrote a book that it's there forever," Mrs Connelly said.
Mrs Connelly said she was taught a lot of her skills from her grannies, "the old people" and the knowledge had been passed down to each new generation.
"It is very important to share my knowledge because once it is gone it will be lost forever," she said.
"A lot of people won't use the medicines I guess, but I used them when I was a little girl and these methods have been tried and tested, these things do work.
"But not anyone can just go out and do this, they have to know what they are doing - if they don't then it can be dangerous."
After Margaret Ahsam passed away suddenly in 2007, Mrs Connelly said she was determined to do something about sharing her knowledge that had been gathered over the years and was inspired by her sister who used to visit schools throughout the region to teach about bush tucker and native plants.
"She was my inspiration, that's what inspired me to do that because I didn't expect her to pass away and I could pass away tomorrow, so I needed to write it down to pass the knowledge on," she said.
"It took me a long time to do it and an archaeologist named Lynley Wallis helped me so it's a dream come true."
When asked if she was proud of her achievement, Mrs Connelly was humble in her response.
"I've not really thought about it, everyone else is and I guess everyone else is excited, but I don't think it has sunk in yet," Mrs Connelly replied.
"It took a long time because you don't always have an archaeologist at your door to help you with the scientific stuff and all of that, I knew what I wanted putting in but the scientific stuff and the names that are in there.
"I think the book is well done, that's my opinion, and I think we have done a great job."
Mrs Connelly said her childhood provided the base knowledge and the perfect platform for her book and the times she spent learning from her elders.
"We were reared up in the bush from little kids and in the book we have got some of my grand kids when they were young and I was showing them artefacts and bush tucker and they helped me to collect specimens to take photographs of," she said. "They still help me today and they're almost 20-year-olds, and it's not just my family, it's our group, the Mitakoodi group."
Mrs Connelly was passionate about the land - the environment and the bush holds a special place in her heart.
"My close family we do everything like that, we protect the land, we try to protect the environment, and look after many things for future generations because if you don't look after it well its gone and it's gone forever so what we have now we have to look after what we've got for tomorrow," she said.
She hoped Kar-Kar: Mitakoodi Traditional Medicinal plant uses of the Cloncurry Region would soon be available in bookshops throughout Mount Isa and Cloncurry.