At the inaugural Australian gathering of ethnobotanical enthusiasts in Northern New South Wales on the 24/25 February 2001, the set and setting suggested that plants are indeed infiltrating and taking over.

Journeying deep into the misty beshroomed hills in the shadow of Mt. Warning, time slowed down in the ancient lands of the Badjalang people, as we converged from distant points of the Australian continent and even beyond from New Zealand. At the welcome session, thawing ethnonauts were greeted by Torsten (Shaman Australis), Floyd Davis (Magikal Botanicals) and Mulga, promising investigations into the overwhelming Australian plant arsenal.

The space that we camped and communed in over those days was lush with a local abundance of entheogens. Moisture dripped from the heavy air as we melted into the humming forest setting up tents and tarps. Potent underground scientific and metaphysical research was to be shared, examined and discussed in an open bush meeting house. As the first day evolved so too did the buzzing humidity competing with the surrounding ambrosia forest.

Dutchie of Mystical Mycology spoke of local advancements in mushroom cultivation techniques, and outlined particular mycelium expansion methods. He emphasized the wide variety of techniques available via the web, net and books, and encouraged ongoing research. Opening with a short history of entheogenic interests of various cultures, he continued on with an overview of mushroom identification, including examples of native psychoactive species found only in specific parts of the huge and biodiverse Australian continent.

Benjamin Thomas revealed much about Australia's northern neighbour, Papua New Guinea and its diverse plants and their multi-faceted uses. Undertaking an ethnobotanical exploration of the region over the last few years, he observes traditional ecological knowledge of PNG rapidly disappearing. Benjamin introduced the idea of "therogen", invoking the violent, aggressive and bestial, as opposed to "entheogen" suggesting a more blissful passage into expanded awareness. He proposed that it is cultural context which decides the ultimate experience in visionary plant use. Set and setting are crucially important as the same plant can appear to act therogenically or entheogenically: bestial/divine, animal/human, nature/culture, group/individual, war/peace. As an example of therogenic behaviour, he spoke of cannabis use by aggressive gangs of young, poor and marginalized men in Port Moresby, PNG's capital. They are known by locals as "rascals" and a number of secret societies exist. They refer to themselves as evil, identify with heavy metal, and obviously use the wicked weed to invoke the savage spirit of the wild boar.

Russell Kundalini introduced the chemistry of alkaloids and presented an expert overview of a number of important structural families of psychoactive compounds primarily from plants and fungi including amino acids, phenethylamines, mescaline, amphetamine like alkaloids in plants, related plant oils, opiates, tryptamines, beta-carbolines and so on.

Torsten from Shamanis Australis followed next with his challenge of official views about the medical benefits of Yohimbe, a prohibited import in Australia, which has been shown, amongst other things, to be able to control high blood pressure. He pointed out the need to conserve such a valuable species from the plundering Western pharmaceutical industry. Presently working with a herbalist, a naturopath and a medical doctor to bring to light the beneficial uses of yohimbe, he spoke of the tissue culture under current painstaking development. After two years work, only three survivors remain out of hundreds. Mainly sourced from West Africa, it is the bark which is harvested often destroying the tree. Pharmaceutical companies have been known to buy the bark from local people for around US$1/kg and re-sell it at an astronomical mark up. This plant cannot be patented, and as such presents limited opportunity for commercial profit in the west. With little interest in establishing plantations, wholesale plunder of yohimbe found in the natural environment continues. Another prohibited African plant, with potent healing properties, ibogaine, has shown to be able to interrupt addiction to another substance and can actually change behavioural patterns of addiction. Acting on seratonin, the ibogaine triggers its release over a long time frame, often weeks, which results in a prolonged sense of well being. Kratom, a traditional narcotic in Thailand, has in low doses a stimulation effect similar to ibogaine, and an opiate like sedation effect in high dose. It's a viable alternative to opiates because its ingestion is more controlled.

Des Tramacchi's anthropological investigation of the various uses of entheogens in dance ritual settings throughout the world exposed the enormous potential of these substances as forces of social unity. He quotes Victor Turner: "What they seek is a transformative experience that goes to the root of each person's being and finds in that root something profoundly communal and shared." He identified major types of dance ritual and the underlying cohesion and meaning that these experiences bring to the social context, including the maintenance of social relations, and rites of initiation, and outlines the various techniques used to invoke such experiences including breathing, chanting, repetitive movements, concentration, energy, emotion and visualization, as well as the intense influence of sound, synaesthesia and the collective "tuning in". Different phases of consciousness may be linked to different frequencies. Examples involve percussive sounds which at a certain beats can induce alpha, beta etc. states and their associated changes in awareness.

Mulga next reminded us that the official emblem of the Australian nation is the ubiquitous acacia, one of the largest genus in Australia of around 800 species. Acacias are distributed all around Australia though the southwest corner of Western Australia,15% of the continent, contains 40% of acacia species. Mulga briefly touched on the importance of Acacia for the Aboriginal people as reliable calendar plant indicating changes in seasons and available food, as well as providing a source of seed, fibre and medicine. The usefulness of the leaves, root and bark of the acacia to Aboriginal culture was paramount. After colonization began, English settlers saw the acacia's bark as valuable in the tanning industry, and as a consequence, cleared most of South Australia. The history of research into acacias in Australia has been sporadic and for many decades non-existent with 1965 heralding the first paper about alkaloids found in five or six acacia species.