Here to Help: Honey Ant Hunt

Fifty kilometres outside Kalgoorlie, Starlink is the only way to connect to the world.

Major networks disappear with sealed roads.

Gold prospectors check their satellite phones and snakebite kits and hope to return a little richer.

Edie, Marjorie and Nikki offer visitors the chance to dig for something different. Honey ants are also shimmery, elusive and subterranean but they’re better than metal.

They’re edible.

And, they have therapeutic uses.

Researchers are looking at how their honey can combat infection, having already been used in traditional medicine for generations. 

The ants are big and slow, and they don’t bite.

Plenty of other things do, though.

Edie warns the group about snakes and spiders and reminds everybody to check each branch before grabbing it.

Michelle lives in Kalgoorlie. It’s her first time on the tour. She knows how important first aid is for life in the Goldfields.

“I initially did the training because my friend introduced me to it,” she says. “She’s a (St John WA) volunteer.”

Michelle holds up her snakebite kit, and a vintage St John First Aid book, complete with reflective cover text.

“This little book was a gift. It cuts straight to the point and does exactly what it says on the tin – ‘Staying Alive’.

“I have a very well-equipped first aid box for being out here. You never know, somebody might just need a band aid.

“Or they might need the snake bite bandage.”

Edie, Marjorie and Nikki keep first aid kits in their 4x4s, and tours always have a trained first aider on hand.

To call an ambulance, they have Starlink, but before it arrives they’ll know what to do.

Not sure if you’ve got a snake bite first aid kit? Get one here.