The forests of far East Gippsland are different.
The cabbage-tree palm (Livistona australis) grows along the remote Cabbage Tree Creek, 30 kilometres east of Orbost. The palm is regularly found in NSW and Queensland, but only at this isolated spot in Victoria.
Famous explorer, A. W. Howitt wrote that heart of the Cabbage-tree was eaten by the Gunai/Kurnai people. Leaves were used for shelter and fibres for string, rope and fishing lines.
Early settlers also ate the Cabbage-tree palm and used the fronds as roofing and for brooms.
A cottage industry developed weaving the fronds into cabbage-tree hats.
Bundles of the palm leaves were gathered and carried home to be boiled, dried and finally bleached. Women and children spent their spare time plaiting hats for the family.
Orders were soon received from all over the country. A well-made cabbage-tree hat could fetch as much as twenty pounds. They proved very popular with Australian bushmen, gentleman squatters and young sportsmen.
Source: A Thornton, Walkabout Magazine. (1 July 1945). Vol. 11 No. 9. Page 16.
https://nla.gov.au:443/nla.obj-735293120
Victoria’s Forests & Bushfire Heritage 