This paper examines three lists of plants collected and viewed as representative samples of particular ecologies in north-west Victoria in the colonial period, between 1850 and 1870.  All three collections were made by Aboriginal people on their own traditional lands in conjunction with Europeans engaged with the landscapes and Indigenous peoples in question.  The landscapes vary from riverine plain, through hill and swamp country, to semi-arid sandy plain.  The common, scientific and Indigenous names provided for the plants enable us in most cases to identify the specimens.  As they also provide us with an illustration of how particular plants were viewed and what was seen as being important about them, these lists also give us an insight the mindset of the people concerned.  The emerging European science of plant taxonomy can be viewed in parallel with Indigenous classifications in order to see how plants were viewed in both systems of knowledge.  A look back at what survives of the historical flora can show us what has been lost, at the same time that a view of their cultural context can show us what may be retrieved for the future.