Indigo

Did you know that Australia has its own, native version of the indigo plant?

The sweet peas flowering on the indigo plant

Indigofera australis is a lovely little shrub, with sweet little purple flowers. Its name literally means, bearing indigo. A member of the pea family, the flower ranges through soft purple hues, often pinkish in colour.

Dyeing With Australian Indigo. Image source: Gumnut Magic

Apart from the obvious dye that you can extract from the plant, There is another use that might surprise you! First Nations people crush the leaves and then added them to water so they could kill or stun fish and eels.

Indigo template

Download the indigo template

Print the template page with the printer settings set to no scaling or 100%. Measure the 1” test square on the template page to ensure the page is printed correctly. Neatly cut out the templates on the solid line. Optionally you can transfer them to template plastic or adhere them to card-stock to make them stronger.

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