Acacia tumida, also referred to as Spear wattle, Wongai or Pindan wattle, is a widerspread Kimberley species! When this wattle flowers in the dry season, the air is heavily scented with a sweet perfume. The pollen, however, can cause hay fever.
It often forms dense thickets in red sand with spinefex, described as Pindan country around the Broome area. Acacia tumida is a short-lived spreading shrub or tree up to nine metres. The upper bark is smooth, white and sometimes waxy, but the lower bark is dark and ruptured.
Traditional uses by Kimberley Abroriginal people include the cooking of the green pods in hot ashes and the consumption of the seeds. Mature black seeds are pounded into flour, mixed with water and eaten as nutritious paste, or cooked as a damper. The trunks of young trees are used to make spears and boomerangs.
Society for Kimberley Indigenous Plants and Animals 