On the fringes of Perth in the Swan Valley is where you can find Wardandi Bibbulmun Elder Aunty Dale Tilbrook, a trail blazer when it comes to business.

Ms Tilbrook has been operating a business highlighting native ingredients, Indigenous art and other products for close to thirty years.

It began about three years before the Sydney 2000 Olympics when Ms Tilbrook and her mentor, the late Ken Colbung AM MBE, walked the streets of Circular Quay finding stockists for their handmade returning boomerangs, targeting high-end souvenir stores and galleries. They also designed special hangers so the boomerangs could be displayed with the feet pointing down, like a rainbow.

"We spent ages designing the hangers, they were a work of art unto themselves, you see, the rainbow serpent features in a creation story, so it was important to Ken to have the boomerang displayed the right way," Ms Tilbrook said.

"They weren't painted, they were plain, and came with very detailed instructions on how to throw them so they would return.

"SOCOG, the Olympic Committee, gave us special swing tags to hang on them as official merchandise, we did quite well from that."

Ms Tilbrook and Mr Colbung's first business success was not by accident.

"I'd worked in London at the head office of Debenhams department stores for ten years, and then at Aherns department store back in Perth for about eight years, so I had experience in retail, buying and merchandising and I was always thinking at least a year in advance."

She later opened Maalinup Gallery with her brother Lyall, offering authentic Aboriginal art, gifts and souvenirs.

In their Swan Valley shopfront, which Ms Tilbrook intentionally chose for its visible location on the busy West Swan Road, they received an unexpected delivery.

"A courier came with a box of locally made quandong jam, and I didn't remember ordering it, but I paid for it anyway, and when I displayed it in the store it looked lonely, so I started looking for other bush foods," Ms Tilbrook said.

"We eventually discovered who the delivery was intended for, which wasn't us and we sorted it all out, but it got me interested in supplying bush foods.

"I'd always been fascinated by bush plants, but I saw them as mostly medicinal, using eucalyptus oil for colds and the like, and I used to make my own concoctions.

"As teenager I remember making Turkish rose petal jam, I loved making my own things, and I was an avid reader, I always read everything, from which I acquired a lot of information that would swim around in my head until it was useful."

Ms Tilbrook was born in Port Hedland to an English mother and Wardandi Bibbulmun father. They lived in Derby, Broome, Narrogin and Perth before Ms Tilbrook went travelling abroad.

"Even though London was very different to regional WA, I loved living there and I enjoyed using it as a springboard to travel to other places," she said.

"At that point in my life in my twenties and early thirties, I'd lived in London longer than any other place, and I've never lived on a permanent basis on my country – Wardandi Buibbulumn which is around Busselton."

Relishing and sharing knowledge about native foods, Ms Tilbrook represents the Swan Valley region at every opportunity, travelling as far as Turin, Italy with the Swan Valley and Eastern Region Slow Food Convivium to Terra Madre to cook at Australia on a Plate for 100 people, and presenting a Bushtucker Masterclass.

"I was also part of the Swan Valley contingent which launched the Swan Valley Trails in Singapore in 2019. My trail is 'Bushtucker and Beyond'."

For the past 18 months, the siblings have been settled in a new shop in the Swan Valley located on the grounds of Mandoon Estate Winery where Dale Tilbrook Experiences offers insightful bush food tours and tastings.

"For years we did bush food catering, and we don't do that anymore, but I'm very passionate about educating the world about Australian native edibles, it's an important part of my cultural journey," she said.

"I know a lot about bush food. It's very dear to my heart. From my Elders I've acquired a lot of knowledge and have backed that up with my own research."

Ms Tilbrook said being a part of the local tourism community gives context. Like all tourism businesses, the pandemic was tough.

"When we didn't have tourists during the GFC and the era of the strong Australian dollar, we made soaps with various native botanicals, you always have to be flexible in business," Ms Tilbrook advised.

"In our time we've seen 9/11, the collapse of Ansett, SARS, bird flu, the global financial crisis and you learn quite quickly about risk management, which is more than preventing accidents.

"It's about making changes quickly and doing what you can to stay in business when things are not in your control."

Ms Tilbrook is happily and firmly planted in the Swan Valley. She is in more demand than ever, flown around Australia and the world to share her knowledge about bush foods.