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# Three Barkandji women took a bush medicine to the lab, and kept the knowledge
- URL: https://www.earthtoseanews.com/paaru-bush-medicine/
- Published: 2026-10-17T03:23:20.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-17T03:26:24.000Z
- Description: Paaru Natural Products was founded by three Malyangapa and Barkandji women on medicinal plant knowledge handed down through their mothers' lines. With CSIRO they have turned it into a process six times more efficient, and the plant's identity never left the room.
- Author: Nicole McMahon
- Tags: Innovations, All stories

Paaru is a small company in a remote corner of far western New South Wales, founded by three Malyangapa and Barkandji women on plant medicine their matrilineal families have looked after for generations. Aunty Deb Evans and Emmie Smith are two of the founders. Their aim is plain: a business that pays its own way on Country while the cultural duties that come with the knowledge, caring for Country and protecting the stories, stay exactly where they are. Early this year they worked with CSIRO through its Kick-Start program for small businesses, and the first thing settled was ownership. Clauses protecting Indigenous cultural and intellectual property were written in before any science began, and the plant itself stayed confidential, known only within the project team. "Key to us being able to engage was knowing that CSIRO was a cultural knowledge and IP ready institution," Aunty Deb said.

![River red gums leaning over a shallow outback creek](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0d/06/0d067be9-327f-4730-b9c3-5f0cdd2bc6fa/content/images/2026/10/paaru-bush-medicine-inside.jpg)

River red gums over an outback creek. Photo: Unsplash.

Read the full story: [Bridging knowledge systems, Paaru's path from tradition to technology, by Julie Cumming, CSIRO](https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2026/february/paaru).

Then the chemistry. Ivan Martinez-Botella, a senior experimental scientist, worked with colleagues Stephanie Kourambas and Katherine Locock through solvents, drying methods and different parts of the plant, looking for an extract that came out the same every time and could be made on simple equipment a long way from a city. What they landed on is about six times more efficient than the old method and more stable, which is what lets manufacturing happen on Country rather than in a distant factory. "The project team were phenomenal," Aunty Deb said. Martinez-Botella called it an honour to be trusted with sacred knowledge, so that Indigenous and Western science could be blended into something real. Paaru's first product line is planned for this year, with food and skin health products in view, and CSIRO is lining up a follow on project to scale the process further. It is a model other Indigenous founded businesses have used with CSIRO before, and this one keeps the plant's name where it belongs.

### Sources and links

Our short take: the full story is by Julie Cumming for CSIRO (9 February 2026).

- [Bridging knowledge systems: Paaru's path from tradition to technology, by Julie Cumming, CSIRO](https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2026/february/paaru) The story, the quotes, the six fold figure.
- [CSIRO Kick-Start](https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/funding-programs/SME/CSIRO-Kick-Start) The program.