89. Herbal History Written in the Landscape: Sue Evans on Herbal Education

The Elder Tree Podcast

In today's episode Tatiana Dawn interviews Sue Evans: a respected herbalist, teacher and herbal historian on Wurrundjeri country in Melbourne.

Sue has an incredible birds eye view on Australian herbalism over the past almost 50 years of her education and career, and when she did her PHD, she really dived into the herbal history of Australia since European settlement, and some of the challenges that herbalists have faced over this time.

Sue herself has a rich history of herbal education, starting with training at the National Institute of Medical Herbalists in the UK. In Australia, Sue taught teaching at the Southern School of Natural Therapies. Later, she moved to Southern Cross University in Lismore, where she was part of the first university course in naturopathy in Australia. After nearly 20 years there, she returned to Melbourne and continued teaching online with the University of Tasmania.

Throughout her career, Sue practiced herbal medicine for about 25 years, was part of the first integrative clinic in Melbourne, and was involved in the establishment of the Victorian Herbalists Association during a politically charged time when the Therapeutic Goods Act was introduced. Sue has been a huge advocate for herbalists rights, and also for the rights of the plants, promoting a more sustainable way of managing the industry that has emerged with the import of herbs for clinical practice.

In this interview we explore the repeating patterns through history, of herbalists being oppressed by the government and allopathic medical industry. We discuss what history has been lost or misplaced, and Sue shares her wisdom that we need only to look to the landscape and the plants to find the history written.

Sue also shares her story of being at the first ever meeting of the American Herbalist Guild, and how a previous conversation with Micheal Tierra catalyzed the AHG to form. We actually cover so much in this interview, and yet it feels like the tip of the iceberg. I really loved this chat with a herbal elder who I respect so much, and I hope that you enjoy.

Find Sue Evans on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063522235865

Download Sue's thesis:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37358662_Challenge_Tension_and_Possibility_An_Exploration_into_Contemporary_Western_Herbal_Medicine_in_Australia

The Jacka Foundation:

https://jackafoundation.org.au/

A great intervew by American Botanical Council in 2019:

https://sustainableherbsprogram.org/sue_evans/

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