Bindjarb Park's intimate six season dinner celebrates Nyoongar culture with Aboriginal food

The intimate setting of 15 enjoyed a culinary learning experience which took inspiration from the wet and wild weather which set in outside. 

Binjareb Park’s Six Seasons dinner celebrated the changing seasons of the Nyoongar calendar, welcoming in Makuru with a feast and even a visit from a joey. 

Also known as the season of fertility, Makuru lasts from June to July and is defined as the coldest and wettest time of the year. 

In the Nyoongar culture, it was time spent on the coast; something which was reflected in Saturday’s Makuru menu. 

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“Because of the Nyoongars used to gather on the coast so a lot of the seafood is used around this season, because it's easier to get,” Bindjareb Park’s Kerrie-Anne Kearing said.  

“And it was a big trading thing – fish – as it was also the trading season in the Nyoongar culture. 

“The kangaroo; because there's an abundance of it, there's never a season for it so it's all year around.” 

The menu itself was a contemporary twist on Nyoongar foods, created using authentic bushfood, which –  for the moment –  has been sourced from different suppliers.

It is hoped that in the future a lot of the ingredients will come from the Bindjareb Park property itself. 

“For example we have finger limes planted out the front but it takes six years before you can actually get any fruit from it,” Ms Kearing said. 

Saturday’s diners started their night off with scrambled emu egg with crab and seared scallops, and finger lime garnish; followed by a main of bush herb encrusted kangaroo, lemon myrtle and pepper squid and pan fried barramundi – a substitute for the more commonly eaten mullet. 

For dessert, it was macadamia ice-cream. 

“I can’t go past the ice-cream,” Ms Kearing said. 

“That being said, the roasted kangaroo I would eat any time; I’d eat it for breakfast.”

Saturday was the second time Binjareb Park has held a seasonal dinner, with the first held last year.  

However foodies won’t have to wait another 12 months for the next culinary experience. 

A call for repeat events means that Ms Kearing and Bindjareb Park are planning to continue hosting dinners throughout the year, to mark the beginning of each new season on the Nyoongar calendar.