Inspire magazine issue seven (PDF 6MB, new window - Indigenous ...

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Four 

wheel drive 

How a � nely-tuned 

relationship is steering 

a business to success 

Living culture 

Meet the family harvesting 

wisdom and cultivating knowledge 

in a Queensland rainforest 

Wild thing 

Glamping out in the 

Mary River Wetlands 

Getting on 

with business 

We have a yarn with Indigenous 

trainer and educator Dave Widders 

issue seven 2011

Welcome 

From the CEO, 

Chris Fry 

Welcome to Issue seven of Inspire. 

Most of us are inspired by stories of courage, and I have witnessed this 

in many of IBA’s customers who are exploring and creating economic 

opportunities for themselves, and expanding their personal choices 

and horizons. 

In this issue of Inspire you’ll meet Donna Piper who, struggling to 

understand the complexities of home fi nance, found the courage to say ‘I 

don’t understand’. Through asking for help, Donna now feels confi dent to 

share her fi nancial literacy with friends, and has inspired her children to 

explore home ownership as a choice for themselves. 

Meanwhile the Grant family in far north Queensland, though battered by 

Cyclone Yasi, and a downturn across the tourism sector, are committed 

to building a family business that will provide a platform for sharing and 

preserving their land and culture. 

And you’ll meet the dynamic Aaron and Claire Hills who, by challenging 

their thinking and being prepared to make some tough decisions, are 

ensuring their business continues to grow, evolve and provide the 

autonomy and lifestyle they so value. 

Of course, such courage and confi dence can be easier to summon if 

you have strong pillars of support beneath you. So it is gratifying and 

encouraging to observe just how many of our customers are able to 

rely on their relationship with our front line staff to provide one such 

pillar. Our staff are committed to keeping their customers front of mind 

in every transaction. Through encouragement and advice we support 

Indigenous Australians to achieve their goals, and move toward economic 

independence. 

I look forward to sharing more inspiring stories with you in the next issue 

of Inspire in 2012. 

October 2011 

IBA respects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and has taken care to 

ensure the contents of this publication do not offend. 

2 issue seven 2011 

Inside issue seven 

The rising voice: how a graduate role 03 

at IBA is enabling Kelvin Defranciscis 

to explore his career options. 

Living culture: meet the family 05 

harvesting wisdom and cultivating 

knowledge in a Queensland rainforest. 

Four wheel drive: how a fi nely-tuned 08 

relationship is steering a business 

to success. 

The heart of the matter: home 12 

ownership has helped Donna Piper 

break with her past, and create 

choices for the future. 

Wild thing: glamping out in the 14 

Mary River Wetlands. 

Getting on with business: we have 18 

a yarn with Indigenous trainer and 

educator Dave Widders. 

Production Team 

Editor-in-Chief Zoë Craven 

Editor Bridie Henehan 

Deputy Editor Lucy McBride 

Designer Kylie Smith Design 

Printed by Print Junction, Adelaide, an 

Indigenous owned company. 

The entire contents of Inspire are copyright and 

may not be reproduced in any form either in part 

or in whole without the written permission of the 

Editor-in-Chief. 

To tell us what you think of the Inspire publication 

go to www.iba.gov.au/contact-us/ 

To receive future issues of Inspire go to 

www.iba.gov.au/subscribe/ 

To be removed from IBA’s mailing list email 

iba_corporate@iba.gov.au

� e rising voice 

Who: Kelvin Defranciscis 

From: Townsville, currently living in Canberra 

His story: Kelvin Defranciscis is a triplet 

from Home Hill in tropical north Queensland. 

He began a cadetship with IBA in 2006, 

whilst studying toward a double degree in 

law and business at James Cook University 

in Townsville. 

After fi ve years of study, Kelvin was offered 

a graduate position at IBA’s National Offi ce, 

working within the legal department. Taking 

up that opportunity required Kelvin and his 

partner Libby to relocate a long way from 

family and friends in Townsville to Canberra. 

1. On pursuing a 

personal goal: ‘There 

has to be an individual 

focus, an ‘I want to…’ 

or ‘I have a desire to…’ 

I am pretty self-driven, and 

I was always determined to 

do law, so I went straight 

from school to university 

and just did it. My parents 

instilled pretty good values 

and work ethics, and 

inspired us to do the best 

for ourselves. But that can 

only get you so far; there 

has to be an individual 

focus, an ‘I want to…’ or ‘I 

have a desire to...’ 

In the last year of my degree 

everyone was telling me I’d 

be unemployable without 

some legal offi ce work 

experience. I had friends 

working for free just to 

have something on their 

resumes. Taking up the 

opportunity of a cadetship 

at IBA was invaluable, not 

just because of the fi nancial 

incentives but because of 

the experience I could gain. 

2. On learning the 

ropes: ‘I now have all 

this understanding 

that sits behind the 

issues I work on in 

Canberra’. 

Through my experience 

with the IBA team in 

Townsville, I was able 

to pick up not only 

professional skills but also 

offi ce etiquette. That stuff 

stays with you, and helps in 

your working environment. 

And because I got faceto-face 

experience with 

customers, I now have all 

this understanding that sits 

behind the issues I work on 

in Canberra. And that helps 

me understand things from 

a customer’s perspective. 

And then there’s the 

importance of being in and 

working as a team. IBA has 

to achieve benchmarks 

and targets, and the only 

way to do that is by working 

together. It was a great 

fi rst job to start with, and 

I attribute a lot of what 

I have learned to my 

workmates there. 

3. On leaving behind 

what you know: ‘It’s 

how I have framed 

it in my mind–it’s an 

adventure’. 

Being from Townsville, 

I knew there would be 

limited positions for me 

there. So it wasn’t a question 

of should I leave, it was more 

a question of how far I would 

need to go. But I threw it all 

around and weighed up the 

opportunity being offered 

against family, friends and 

my life there. I had already 

considered that I’d have 

to move for my career, so 

it came down to–was the 

opportunity being offered 

good enough? 

Moving to a new city and 

starting a new role has been 

great. It felt like the right 

thing to do, so that made 

the move really positive. 

It’s how I have framed it in 

my mind–it’s an adventure. 

And yes, it was hard leaving 

a strong support network, 

but I didn’t want to have any 

regrets. I didn’t want to stay 

issue seven 2011 3

(in Townsville) and not fi nd 

out. And the worst thing 

that can happen is that after 

a year I decide it’s not for 

me, but in the meantime I 

get all that experience and 

learning. 

4. On ‘winging it’: ‘The 

thing about being a 

graduate lawyer is that 

you’re pretty much 

out of your depth with 

everything!’ 

I’m really excited to get my 

teeth into some legal work 

after fi ve years of study–I’m 

ready to go. There isn’t 

a day-to-day in my role; 

every day I do something 

completely different. When 

I get up and go to work in 

the morning I don’t know 

what will be thrown my way, 

and that’s what attracted 

me to the role. I’m not 

pigeon-holed and that suits 

me because I’m not sure 

what area of law I want 

to pursue yet. So I value 

getting that exposure to 

different experiences 

and concepts. 

The thing about being a 

graduate lawyer is that 

you’re pretty much out of 

your depth with everything! 

It takes you longer to do 

things, you need more 

instruction, need everything 

checked. So I shadow the 

legal team here, and I can’t 

contribute a lot yet, but 

watching the interaction 

and what happens 

afterwards is part of the 

learning process. 

At uni they ingrain some 

basic skills–how to solve 

problems, how to write. 

When a customer walks 

in and says ‘I’ve got this 


issue’, and you have 

never done this before, 

you have to wing it a bit 

and draw on those basic 

skills. But more and more 

tasks come up now and 

I recognise them more 

readily than I used to, so 

there are less times when I 

say ‘whoa, what’s this’. 

5. On what you won’t 

learn in a book: ‘My 

colleagues at IBA 

keep telling me that… 

I have to go through 

a baptism of fi re, that 

I need to go to court 

and be yelled at by 

a judge!’ 

A lot of my work 

involves interacting with 

people, managing their 

expectations. It’s not just 

about doing legal work 

on some random fi le, it’s 

also about the customer. 

And keeping the customer 

satisfi ed is about more 

than just getting the job 

done–you really need 

to develop excellent 

interpersonal and people 

skills. Because there’s 

a face, there’s a person, 

they’re giving you an issue, 

and you have to deal with it. 

I’ll also get the opportunity 

to do a secondment with a 

different legal organisation 

here in Canberra which 

will enable me to see 

another side of the 

industry. Although my 

colleagues at IBA keep 

telling me that to truly 

experience being a lawyer 

I have to go through a 

baptism of fi re, that I need 

to go to court and be yelled 

at by a judge! 

6. On what the ‘right 

move’ means: ‘You 

can’t think too far 

ahead because it takes 

you out of the here 

and now’. 

There are no ‘wrong 

moves’ right now, and I’m 

just soaking up all these 

experiences. And it’s a good 

feeling to wake up and 

come to a place like IBA 

where I feel like I’m doing 

work that is contributing… 

that’s a real bonus. 

At the end of the year 

there’s another decision 

to be made. I’m starting 

to look at career options 

and what I’m enjoying, 

narrowing it down. You 

can’t think too far ahead 

because it takes you out of 

the here and now. A few 

times I’ve thought, I really 

need to go and fi nd an 

area of law I can do, and 

what if I don’t stay at IBA, 

and what if, what if…but 

it’s like, just sit, just chill, 

get through the year. 

It’s a really different 

experience, living with 

your partner, in a different 

city and having an income 

after years of living on 

toasted sandwiches. But 

I’ve worked hard–and 

I’m proud that I can 

work hard and get these 

opportunities. I’m proud 

of being willing to have 

a go, have an adventure. 

And I’m really proud I 

haven’t run away from the 

cold yet! 

IBA is committed to the employment, retention 

and advancement of Indigenous Australians in its 

work force. 

IBA offers entry-level opportunities to Indigenous 

school leavers, university students and university 

graduates. These positions are offered at a variety of 

IBA offi ces nationally. 

Traineeships suit Indigenous school leavers seeking 

a Certifi cate II–IV in business or business related 

studies such as accounting, offi ce administration, 

legal studies and management. 

Cadetships suit Indigenous university students 

wishing to obtain practical work experience that 

complements their tertiary studies. 

Graduate roles suit Indigenous university graduates 

who want to apply their professional knowledge– 

particularly in accounting, fi nance, law or business– 

and skills within a work environment. 

Find out more about these opportunities at 

www.iba.gov.au/working-at-iba

Living culture [L:R] 

On the banks of Davidson Creek in tropical north 

Queensland, local Jirrbal woman Caroline 

Grant has selected three coloured stones 

from the shallow water. Scraping away at the 

surface of each, and using a piece of wood as her palette, 

she has produced red, yellow and white ochres that we’re 

applying to our faces and arms. While we paint, Caroline 

shares a Dreamtime story of how water fi rst came to her 

land. She sways slightly as she speaks, passing a stone 

between her hands in a manner that is as hypnotic as the 

story she tells. Already soaked to our waists after wading up 

the creek, we sit in increasingly heavy rain, covered in sand, 

dirt and ochre–blissfully chilled out. 

This 2½ hour Down River Tour is typical of the no-frills, 

utterly authentic experience offered by the Grant family on 

traditional country near Tully. 

Ordinarily tour participants would now grab a tyre tube for 

a relaxing fl oat back down the creek. Today, however, we’re 

joined by Caroline’s grandfather, Jirrbal elder Ernie Grant 

and his daughter Sonya Jeffrey. As the three directors of a 

newly formed company, the Grants are eager to talk about 

the business venture that will assist them to share and 

preserve their traditional land and culture. 

Before getting down to business, Ernie points out an 

abundance of native medicinal plants and food growing in 

the trees 30 feet above our heads. Caught in those trees are 

dozens of plastic banana bags carried downstream in the wall 

Sonya Jeffrey, Ernie Grant and Caroline 

Grant on country at Davidson Valley. 

of water that barrelled through the Davidson Valley when 

Cyclone Yasi made its direct hit on the region in February 2011. 

That event has been a catalyst for many of the challenges 

and opportunities the Grant family now face. 

For thousands of years the Jirrbal people of tropical 

north Queensland used a vast, sophisticated network of 

walking trails to collect food, attend ceremonial and social 

gatherings, and interact with the more than 20 groups that 

made up the Rainforest Aboriginal people of the wet tropics. 

The walking trails governed every aspect of Jirrbal society, 

with specifi c laws dictating trail use according to purpose 

and season. 

It was along those trails–during another cyclone in 1918– 

that Ernie Grant’s mother Chloe Grant travelled when she 

escaped from a coastal mission back to her home in the 

Davidson Valley. Determined to preserve her culture and 

lifestyle, Chloe lived in the rainforest and a young Ernie 

spent the formative years of his life at her side observing 

and absorbing language and culture. 

In the 1990s Ernie distilled a lifetime of both formal and 

informal education into his Holistic Planning and Teaching 

Framework: My Land, My Tracks, an educational tool for 

examining the interconnected relationships Aboriginal people 

have with land, language and culture. At the same time, Ernie 

set about re-establishing one of the Jirrbal walking trails 

with the aim of using the framework to share his knowledge. 


It is Ernie’s holistic framework that sits at the heart of 

the award-winning Spirit of the Rainforest Tour. Travelling 

through pristine World Heritage listed rainforest to the 

beautiful Echo Creek Falls, visitors are given a unique 

insight into the sacred values and ancestral knowledge of 

the Jirrbal people. 

‘…the Grants know that their 

survival in the tourism sector depends 

on an ability to adapt and diversify.’ 

At least they were, until Cyclone Yasi hit. A massive 

landslide just short of the waterfall has forced a temporary 

suspension of the tour while workers cut an alternative trail 

through the rainforest. 

However, living and working in a region and industry subject 

to both weather and dollar fl uctuations, the Grants know 

that survival in the tourism sector depends on your ability 

to adapt and diversify. ‘There’s still a lot of special places 

around here we can take people’, said Ernie, who with 

Caroline and Sonya has temporarily expanded their shorter 

Down River Tour, attracting the attention of large tourism 

operators including Contiki. 

As members of the Indigenous Tourism Champions Program 

(ITCP)–a joint venture between IBA and Tourism Australia– 

the Grants have been receiving mentoring in marketing 

and distribution specifi c to Indigenous owned tourism 

operations. Two months after Yasi, Sonya was invited to 

attend the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) in Sydney: 

‘Our ITCP mentor helped us identify our target market’, 

she said, ‘and attending ATE enabled us to showcase our 

products to an international market, and build strong 

networks within the tourism industry’. 

Caroline Grant sharing a Dreamtime story at Davidson Creek. 


The opportunities available through the ITCP coupled with 

a strong desire for economic independence encouraged 

Ernie, Sonya and Caroline to start their own business, 

with the aim of developing and delivering a new range of 

tourism and educational services throughout the region. 

After applying for business support through IBA, Sonya 

and Caroline were invited to attend three one-day Into 

Business workshops to assess their preparedness for 

business ownership. 

On successful completion of the workshops the Grants 

engaged business consultant John Felan of Felan 

Consulting through IBA to mentor them during the start-up 

phase of the business. This included the incorporation 

of their new company, Ingan Pty Ltd, and associated 

strategic planning. A local lawyer Stephen Devenish has 

also assisted with succession planning and intellectual 

copyright issues. Of all of the economic opportunities that 

the formation of their own company offers, John said: 

’From the big picture point of view, the most exciting aspect 

is that now that their own company Ingan Pty Ltd has been 

incorporated, with Ernie, Sonya and Caroline as Directors 

and equal shareholders, they have the mechanism and 

entity to control their own destiny’. 

Sonya concurs: ‘It’s always been our plan that we would 

eventually be 100 per cent Aboriginal owned… So we’ve 

now reached that stage where we’ve really proven our 

worth in the tourism industry. We’ve built our reputation 

up that we’re very reliable, we’re professional…a 

tourism company that can deliver… And I think, from my 

perspective, that (autonomy) is really important because 

dad’s built up something wonderful and it’s a legacy that 

needs to be maintained’. 

With such a vast understanding and passion for their 

culture, and a wealth of tourism and educational activities 

available to tap into, it is perhaps surprising that one 

challenge facing the Grants is product development. 

A Down River Tour participant cooling off at Davidson Creek.

Ernie Grant with his extended family and journalist Jeff McMullen [centre] at Davidson Valley. 

For every potential tour or activity, they will need to 

identify exactly what the product is, drilling down to the 

specifi cs of delivery and how to reach that product’s 

target market. 

‘...as Directors and equal 

shareholders, they have the 

mechanism and entity to control 

their own destiny’. 

To this end, John Felan ensures the Grants remain closely 

involved in all aspects of business planning and product 

development for Ingan. ‘This is one of the real strengths of 

the IBA model’, he said. ‘In any situation, it is always better 

for the entity or individual being mentored to ‘discover’ 

their own solutions for their particular business needs 

in accordance with standard business practice concepts 

introduced by the mentor’. 

Despite both the challenges and opportunities ahead, John 

believes much of the new company’s potential lies in the 

individual strengths of its three directors. He said: ‘Ernie 

Grant is the eminent living repository of the culture and 

heritage of the Jirrbal people. He also has the skills and 

experience to present this knowledge in an educational 

and entertaining way… Caroline epitomises characteristics 

of intrinsic Australian Aboriginality. As the senior tour 

guide she brings deep knowledge of her country and 

people and shares this inclusively and warmly with 

her visitors… And Sonya is an enthusiastic, dedicated 

and accomplished natural communicator on any level. 

She has an infectious spirit and an agile mind, which 

encourages people to want to work with her and want to 

see her succeed’. 

The Grants are excited about the journey ahead and the 

opportunities they will have to learn, although Sonya 

and Caroline both say it is the time spent with Ernie that 

provides the most valuable education of all. Sonya said: 

‘For me, being brought up in a Western society, having 

a Western education and not really understanding that 

holistic perspective as an Aboriginal person, it’s only 

since I started working with dad and Caroline that I’m 

really starting to understand as an Aboriginal person what 

it means to be Aboriginal… And it’s always been there in 

me, but it’s been about connecting again. All that time I 

was going the way everyone else was going in a Western 

context… Until one day I woke up and thought, I have got 

such a beautiful identity here, and I am not learning what 

I need to be learning, and the importance of that. And now 

I’m like a sponge, you can’t stop me–every minute I get I 

want to be out learning about country with dad’. 

Ernie Grant’s own satisfaction comes from witnessing 

this transfer and preservation of Jirrbal culture and 

knowledge, and the economic opportunities which Ingan 

Pty Ltd may provide for current and future generations. 


Four wheel drive Aaron 

‘ 

If it’s right, it’s right’. Claire Hills is describing how 

she came to meet her husband Aaron when she was 

just 17 years of age. But she could just as easily be 

describing the couple’s positive approach to life, and 

their business in particular. 

On paper, Claire and Aaron Hills are a writer’s dream: both 

have an infectious zest for life, are warm, friendly and 

articulate, and eager to share their insights into how they 

have made their Indigenous owned automotive repairs 

business in western Sydney a success. The ‘problem’ is that 

as husband and wife, business partners and best mates, 

they fi nish each other’s sentences, thoughts and stories with 

an energy and humour that frequently turns our interview 

into a game of verbal tennis. 

That same energy drives Claire and Aaron in raising a young 

family, running an award-winning business, mentoring 

young Indigenous people from their community, and 

throwing themselves into almost any outdoor adventure 

activity you can think of. 

Together for 18 years, married for 13, and business partners 

for 10, the couple share a long-standing enthusiasm for 

cars and motorsports. ‘Cars actually bought us together’, 


and Claire Hills outside their 

automotive repairs business. 

said Aaron. ‘We met through friends, and that same day I 

met Claire’s dad. He’s a mad motorsport nut like me, so 

I reckon that helped strengthen my case with Claire from 

the word go!’ 

Of beginning a life together at an early age, Claire said: 

‘I met Aaron when I was in year 12, he was 19 and a 

third year apprentice… So we grew up together and 

experienced everything together. A lot of people ask how 

do we work together too…but we’re friends as well… And 

we have defi ned roles–Aaron has his jobs, I have mine 

and we respect that’. 

The couple say that respecting those roles is vital in 

blending their personal and working relationships. ‘Being 

in business magnifi es the good and the bad of your 

relationship’, said Aaron. Claire agrees: ‘It’s about giving 

each other leeway, allowing each other to have faults 

and not taking each other for granted… We’ve learned a 

lot about boundaries as well.’ Those boundaries include 

acknowledging each other professionally at work as 

colleagues. ‘If Aaron’s having a bad day in the workshop, 

I ask if I can help’, said Claire, ‘and if not then I leave him 

alone… Sometimes he needs to let off steam, and it’s 

nothing personal’.

The couple’s respect and belief in each other was put 

through its paces when they decided to start their own 

business in 2006, purchasing Angus Mechanical Repairs 

with a loan through IBA’s Business Development and 

Assistance Program. ‘Claire and I knew that we were 

capable and good enough to do the work’, said Aaron. 

‘We had business experience…and we were happy to back 

ourselves 100 per cent’. 

A widely respected mechanic who started his apprenticeship 

in Penrith in 1991, Aaron manages staff and the running 

of the workshop. Claire applies her previous experience 

running a home-based business to the workshop’s 

administration, fi nances and–a core focus of the business–a 

comprehensive customer care program. 

‘We had to change our 

mentality to ‘we are worth what 

we are worth’. � en we started 

charging the right hourly rate… 

and working smarter.’ 

With more than 30 other automotive repair workshops in 

the immediate area alone, Aaron and Claire have worked 

hard to establish their reputation for quality work, and 

to build trust, loyalty–and many genuine friendships– 

amongst their ‘community’ of customers. But in spite of 

their skills and energy, they have still found themselves 

on the nail-biting ride that can accompany the early years 

of business ownership. As a service industry prone to 

fl uctuations in demand during economic uncertainty, the 

couple have had to make tough business decisions in 

order to meet loan repayments and ensure staff get paid. 

‘Many times we’ve had to put some of our own money into 

the business as well, just to keep afl oat’, said Claire. ‘At 

times we don’t pay ourselves for a month... But we don’t 

live beyond our means personally, so we can do that’. 

Other early challenges involved scheduling of work, 

and undercharging for their services. ‘Claire and I have 

always lived by the old business adage that it’s easier to 

go broke sitting on your bum than it is working your butt 

off’, said Aaron. ‘But when you start a business and you 

need the money you can go stupid and try and take on 

everything... Also what a lot of people don’t know about 

mechanics is, the way they do their invoices is to add up 

all the parts, and then add the labour last. But in this 

business the only place you make money is on labour… 

And the interesting thing is that the only person who 

actually really cares about the fi nal bill is the mechanic… 

we undersell ourselves because we don’t want the bill to 

be too expensive for the customer’. 

With assistance from IBA, Aaron and Claire began working 

with a business coach to challenge that thinking. Aaron 

said: ‘We had to change our mentality to ‘we are worth what 

we are worth’. Then we started charging the right hourly 

rate…and working smarter. And instead of rushing around 

trying to get everything done in one day, we’ve got enough 

courage to trust that yes, we are good enough now, so the 

customer can wait, and will wait and not go elsewhere’. 

Their business coach also assisted Claire to create and 

implement a customer care package. By sending service 

reminders, and following up to ensure satisfaction with the 

work, the business has a current customer return rate of 

approximately 80 per cent. ‘First off I was phoning people’, 

said Claire. ‘But I found it was annoying or frustrating for 

them at times because I was maybe calling at a time that 

wasn’t necessarily convenient… I did an industry course 

a while ago and learned about sending text messages 

instead. And I fi nd it works much better now–people are 

more responsive, it’s less intrusive’. 

Asked how they keep the pressures of work from 

interfering with their family life, Aaron said: ‘We pull the 

door down on a Friday, and it’s done… And every day I 

have a 40 minute drive home that gives me time to switch 

off... The only time we’ll talk about work at the dinner table 

is if either of us absolutely needs to know something. In 

the early days though we used to talk about work every 

single minute, because we were worried about it every 

single minute’. 


In steering through the ups and downs of business, Aaron 

and Claire draw inspiration from their hero, former champion 

Australian racing driver Peter Brock. ‘Peter had a saying I 

live by daily’, said Aaron. ‘He said his greatest mentor was 

adversity. So when things are adverse or things are ordinary 

I think, well, this will be defi ning…how can I be better than 

the situation’. Claire meanwhile is a fan of another Brock 

saying: ‘Bite off more than you can chew, and chew like hell!’ 

‘It’s about developing your brain’, 

said Claire. ‘� ings are always 

changing, ways of doing business– 

customer service, marketing–you 

have to keep up with it.’ 

Whether working out with a personal trainer, trying their 

hand at a new adventure sport, or attending workshops 

and seminars on e-business, industry trends or networking 

marketing, Aaron and Claire are continually looking for 

ways to develop both as individuals and business owners. 

‘It’s about developing your brain’, said Claire. ‘Things are 

always changing, ways of doing business–customer service, 

marketing–you have to keep up with it… We’re always looking 

to change things, to evolve. We maybe take on too much 

information…but you can always fi lter out what you don’t need’. 

Of ‘biting off’ innovative business and marketing practices, 

Claire said: ‘We quite often try stuff which is stepping off the 


edge a bit, but we always make it happen. We call it ‘having 

a Brock moment’. 

Wherever possible Aaron and Claire also share what they 

learn with their staff. ‘My poor apprentice’, said Aaron. ‘I try 

and keep him open-minded and he’s exposed to a lot of stuff. 

So I’m saying maybe we should do this and that, and even if 

we don’t do anything different at least he understands the 

process, that this is how you think in business’. 

Five years after fi rst lifting the workshop door, Aaron and 

Claire are proud of the community they have developed 

around their business. ‘A lot of our clients have become good 

friends’, said Aaron. ‘My mechanic says to me, mate how 

many friends have you got? But I think we work 180 degrees 

different to where the industry is at these days. We’re more 

like a café that knows just how you like your coffee. And when 

you fi nd that cafe, you don’t go anywhere else... And we’re 

proud of the level of service we offer, which is refl ected in 

the way our customers come back to us. We’re grateful that 

people choose to come through these doors every day. We 

work hard at that, though, and don’t take that for granted’. 

From worrying every single minute, Aaron and Claire are 

now able to be more future-focused in their business 

planning. Claire said: ‘Now when we talk about business 

it’s more dream-building stuff; where we want to go, what 

we want to do… We’re just working towards making the 

business as good as it can be. It’s a business built around 

our lifestyle and our kids, and the goal is to have enough 

money to travel when we’re older, and lead a good life 

together...that’s enough for us’.

� e heart of the matter 

‘Economic development fundamentally 

relies on the capabilities of individuals to 

choose and lead lives that they value... 

Financial security provides individuals and 

their families with stability and greater 

choices in life.’¹ 

Through its Home Ownership Program, IBA 

provides a range of affordable housing loan 

products to eligible Indigenous Australians 

who may not otherwise qualify with 

mainstream lending institutions for all or 

some of the assistance they need. As part 

of the Australian Government’s Closing the 

Gap initiative, the program aims to make 

home ownership a realistic choice for more 

Indigenous Australians. 

Since the program was established in 

1975 a total of 14,700 families and 

individuals have been assisted into home 

ownership. To fi nd out more about IBA’s 

Home Ownership Program visit 

www.iba.gov.au/home-ownership 


On a winter’s morning in Sydney, a relaxed 

Donna Piper is sitting in her warm kitchen 

talking animatedly about her family. The 

kitchen, as is the case with many Australian 

families, is the heart of Donna’s home and–arguably–her 

world. Because it’s here, when she’s cooking alongside 

her partner John Gaitaneris and surrounded by the buzz 

of family and friends, that Donna refl ects on how different 

her life–and that of her children–is from the unstable and 

diffi cult years of her own childhood. 

Donna and John purchased their Sydney home with a loan 

from IBA in 2007. Over the course of four years they have 

created an increasingly valuable asset for themselves, and 

a welcoming ‘hub’ that their adult children still gravitate 

towards. ‘You should come here at Christmas time’, said 

Donna. ‘I’ve got lights all over it. I do it for the kids, even 

though they’ve grown up. And John pulls his hair out, but I 

just love it… My kids are my world, and they come around 

here, to this home, where I’m mama–and I’m solid for them. 

They’ll come and talk about their lives, or if they 

want advice’. 

Being ‘solid’ for her family is important to Donna, a Tharawal 

woman from La Perouse in Sydney who spent her childhood 

moving from house to house with her mother and sister. 

She said: ‘My mother had my sister at 17, and then had 

me before she was 21... We were living at Glebe, then 

La Perouse, Matraville, Kensington... We had nothing 

when we were kids, and my sister and I had to share our 

Christmas presents. We’d share our clothes like we were 

twins… And we always lived with family because we never

had a place of our own… We ended up living in a house 

where people were renting out rooms. But we were only 

little, and they didn’t want kids there, so my sister and I 

had to go and live at my father’s place out at Hoxton Park, 

Casula, Liverpool… We went to so many different schools, 

and we’d cry every night’. 

It was while raising their own four children that Donna 

and John became determined to create a different future 

for their family. ‘We were in government housing with all 

the ‘characters’ that were there. And I’m no saint–far from 

a saint–but the more kids I had, the more I was like this 

is just not the place for them. I told John I wanted more 

for the kids, I wanted them to be proud, to be brought up 

thinking, look mum and dad have got a house… I had a 

pretty rough childhood, and I had to be more grown up 

at age nine or ten than my kids–they were out kicking 

footies, just being kids’. 

Donna’s motivations correspond with the fi ndings of IBA 

home ownership research from 2008 where clients who 

had purchased homes reported improved social and 

emotional wellbeing, specifi cally feelings of happiness, 

security, pride and a sense of achievement. Clients 

also reported increased confi dence in managing their 

household budgets and maintaining their homes.² 

‘I want my kids to have 

something like this in their lives, 

not because they’re Aboriginal, 

just because they’re people’. 

Donna says negotiating their way through the process 

of buying a home increased their overall confi dence in 

fi nancial matters. She said it also required her to overcome 

a fear of ‘sounding stupid’. She credits the home lending 

staff at IBA’s Sydney offi ce with enabling her to understand 

the specifi c details of her home loan. She said: ‘One day 

I said to Paul (Kotsiras), look I have no idea what you’re 

saying, I’m not that cluey... I don’t understand the big 

words, so can you break it down? And that’s how I learned 

about interest rates. And now I know’. 

Donna says she has also developed strong budgeting skills, 

which she now proudly shares with her workmates and 

friends. ‘I’ve just got two of my friends into budgeting. They 

asked me how I pay our electricity bill? And I said because 

I put ‘x’ dollars a fortnight away. And I write it down, I’ve 

got it in my handbag: the electricity, water, an extra $50 off 

my home loan…same thing every fortnight… You know I’ve 

never asked for an extension on gas, electricity or anything, 

and it’s because I wanted things to be different. We had 

nothing in our childhood, but now we cope–we enjoy our 

life, but we pay our bills’. 

If there’s one thing that excites Donna more than talking 

about owning her own home, it’s talking about the 

opportunities her four children have to do the same. Inspired 

by his parents, eldest son Michael has already bought a 

home through IBA. Donna said: ‘Michael and his wife Laura 

got married last October and have been in their home for 

more than three years, and they love it. Michael just asked 

me, ‘what do you do when you buy a house mum?’ So I 

explained about IBA’s offer, but also how there’s rates and 

water bills so make sure you save extra... And he’s just so 

proud…and he tells his mates, you can do this too, it’s all got 

to do with saving’. 

Donna’s second eldest son Brendon was also invited to apply 

for an IBA home loan but at 22 years of age did not feel ready 

at the time to make the necessary fi nancial commitment. 

While eager to see her children take up home ownership, 

Donna said: ‘I advise all the kids on the home loan, but don’t 

force them into it, because it is a big thing… And all your kids 

are different, so I don’t push Brendon because I know he’s 

just not ready… Although he’s getting there–he got his tax 

back recently and he said it’s going straight into the bank for 

the deposit. And I didn’t even have to say anything!’ 

As her children enter adulthood and start families of their 

own, Donna and John appreciate even more the choices that 

home ownership might afford them in the future. ‘I’m 47 now’, 

said Donna, ‘and I’m hoping that at age 55 I can cut down at 

work, and help the kids out a couple of days with child care– 

just be grandma–and help them in paying off their loans’. 

Donna and John’s own long-term goal is to retire to the NSW 

coast so that John can pursue his love of cooking and fi shing. 

‘Nobody wants to work until they’re 65’, said Donna. ‘We’re 

maybe not going to own our home (outright), but we’ll make 

money on it, and hopefully have paid a fair bit off it. And if we 

can still keep going, we’ll keep going. But if we’re feeling a 

bit tired and it’s time for us, we will sell. And that’s choice’. 

For now though, Donna just appreciates spending time in 

the heart of her home and family. ‘My life’s great’, she said. 

’For what we’ve been through, where we’ve come from… 

Through this home loan, they’ve given us a chance to make 

something of our lives. And I’m not here to prove ‘look at 

me, I’ve got this’. I wanted to do it…and I want my kids to 

have something like this in their lives, not because they’re 

Aboriginal, just because they’re people’. 

1 Australian Government, 2010, Indigenous Economic 

Development Strategy, Draft for Consultation, Canberra. 

2 Indigenous Business Australia and the Centre for 

Appropriate Technology, 2008, Perceptions of Home Ownership 

Among IBA Home Loan Clients, prepared by Anna Szava and 

Mark Moran, Canberra. 


Wild thing The 

‘ Well, that went well’ are words Grant 

Hunt, Managing Director of Anthology– 

the travellers’ collection (Anthology)– 

uses judiciously during any major 

building project. Even more so when that project involves 

dismantling the entire infrastructure of a luxury outback 

lodge in Queensland, transporting it 2800km overland, and 

reassembling the whole ‘jigsaw’–and more–as a new 25-room, 

premium wetlands safari lodge in the Northern Territory. 

In 2009-10, IBA and Anthology–the company behind some of 

this country’s most exclusive eco-tourism operations–became 

the fi rst in Australia to recycle an entire resort. 

Planning for the move started in 2008 after IBA purchased 

the Wildman Wilderness Lodge site from Voyages Hotels 

and Resorts (Voyages). IBA’s aim was to develop the site into 

a unique, experiential resort that would showcase the vast 

natural and cultural history of the region, while generating 

investment and employment opportunities for the local 

community. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country–and 300km 

inland from Cairns–IBA had purchased the assets of the 

former Wrotham Park Lodge, which had recently closed its 

doors. IBA bought the lodge’s ten cabins, or ‘habitats’, as well 

as associated facilities with the express intention of relocating 

them to Wildman. 

IBA invited Grant Hunt and his company Anthology to become 

a joint venture partner to manage the transfer of assets and 


Mary River Wetlands in the Northern Territory. 

[Image courtesy of Anthology] 

formulate a business model for the Wildman site, with an 

ongoing contract to market and manage the new lodge. 

So Grant felt things were indeed going ‘well’ when in 

November 2009 it took a team of builders, under the 

guidance of Project Manager Ken McNaught, just 28 days to 

completely dismantle Wrotham Park Lodge. We’re talking 

every fi xture and fi tting of ten architecturally-designed luxury 

cabins (including verandahs and awnings), a central lodge 

building with bar and restaurant facility, staff accommodation 

units, power generators, underground water and sewerage 

treatment systems, and key electrical infrastructure–all 

excavated, disassembled, wrapped, packed and ready for 

loading onto 18 triple road trains. 

Even more satisfying for all involved, however, was the 

successful removal of Wrotham’s environmental footprint, 

enabling the cleared site to return to its cattle grazing origins. 

‘It’s typical of a sustainable tourism development’, said Grant, 

‘that you try and move something and return the earth to how 

you found it. And that’s what we talk about as the ultimate 

aspiration in nature-based tourism, so it’s nice to know you 

can do it on this sort of scale’. 

With the resort materials transported across country to 

Darwin and placed in storage, stage two of the project 

involved waiting out the traditional Northern Territory wet 

season (December-March). The materials would then be 

transported the fi nal 170km south-east to their new home in 

the Mary River Wetlands, where each of the buildings would 

be reconstructed to form approximately 70 per cent of the 

new Wildman resort.

What no-one could have foreseen, however, was that the 

Northern Territory was about to experience its longest 

and wettest wet season in a decade. ‘The Territory got rain 

in October 2009, and it just didn’t stop’, said Grant. ‘We 

thought it would rain from December to March, but it didn’t 

stop until May... I won’t even go into the magnitude of the 

task of moving everything up country and putting it all back 

together... And Wildman is now open and everyone’s smiling, 

but there were some pretty tense moments...it was a very 

tough project’. 

Prior to establishing his own company, Grant had been CEO 

of Voyages and in that role had spent fi ve years observing 

the ecology and tourism potential of the Wildman site. He 

said: ‘We did things like record rainfall every month, and got 

to understand the seasonal patterns, the humidity, the heat, 

the animals...so I brought quite a bit of knowledge to the 

table for IBA when we started to put the project together’. 

‘I won’t even go into the 

magnitude of the task of moving 

everything up country and putting 

it all back together’. 

Having a mutually serious green agenda, IBA and Anthology 

have combined Grant’s intimate knowledge of the area with 

best practice technology across Wildman’s sustainable 

design. This includes utilising solar power and cross-fl ow 

air currents for cooling and ventilation, and environmentallyfriendly 

practices for processing sewerage and waste. Grant 

said: ‘Most commercial operators realise that their success 

and sustainability as a business is tied to the protection 

and enhancement of the environment. I’m old enough to 

have seen a shift to that (respect for the environment) being 

important for people selecting a holiday experience’. 

In addition to reconstructing the original ten habitats, Grant 

drew inspiration from his travel experiences in Africa in 

commissioning a further 15 safari-style tents. He said: 

‘I’ve been fascinated by how much theme and authenticity 

the safari tent adds to the experience. I call it a sense of 

place… At the end of the day it’s about showcasing nature, 

not building a monument, and it’s important to me that 

the accommodation sits in harmony with the surrounding 

environment’. 

A major consideration for IBA in purchasing and developing 

Wildman was the potential economic opportunities it might 

provide for local Indigenous Australians. ‘IBA’s model 

really fi ts what I’m trying to do from a social and cultural 

perspective very nicely’, said Grant. ‘Their goals and values 

align very closely with Anthology’s, and while we do a bit 

more on the environmental and conservation side, their social 

[L:R] The Hon Warren Snowdon MP, Chris Fry 

CEO of IBA, and Anthology’s Grant Hunt. 

and cultural values and goals align with what we like to do’. 

Discussions are currently under way with local Indigenous 

groups who are interested in becoming joint venture partners. 

IBA and Anthology are also working with local groups to 

explore options for delivering cultural tours. ‘Authenticity, 

that’s the word’, said Grant. ‘Visitors are looking for 

authenticity, and the presence of the traditional owners 

makes it a deep and meaningful thing, because they have a 

history with the land and culture… They add contextual layers 

to the experience, and it builds pride, esteem and capacity 

within the local community too’. 

Two local Indigenous men–Neddy and Daryl Tambling–have 

so far been employed directly by Wildman to help deliver its 

tours. ‘They are so proud of their country and their culture’, 

said Grant, ‘and we want to fi ll more positions where local 

people can maximise that cultural delivery’. 

Although the resort has been open since April 2011, Wildman 

Wilderness Lodge was offi cially opened on 4 August 2011 by 

the Hon. Warren Snowdon MP, Member for Lingiari. 

With the bulk of the work in developing Wildman and the 

launch now behind him, Grant Hunt feels things have indeed 

turned out ‘well’. ‘Getting an opportunity to do a new project 

in nature-based tourism is a very rare occurrence. I feel 

blessed, and I’m really proud of Wildman... I think it has the 

potential to be one of the great iconic nature-based tourism 

experiences in Australia. And it was just this fortunate 

combination of how it came together that made it happen’. 


All images courtesy of Anthology.

Wildman Wilderness Lodge 

Located an easy 

two hour drive 

(or 30 minutes by 

air) from Darwin, 

the Wildman Wilderness 

Lodge is the missing link in 

Top End tourism–a premium 

wetlands safari lodge that 

sits in complete harmony 

with its natural setting just 

outside the Kakadu National 

Park in the stunning Mary 

River Wetlands. 

The new 25-room, 

premium level lodge offers 

two distinctive forms of 

accommodation in luxury 

air-conditioned ‘habitats’ or 

spacious custom-designed 

safari tents. 

The romantic habitats– 

whose name refl ects 

Wildman’s commitment 

to blending with the 

environment–offer 

air-conditioned comfort, 

luxury bedding, premium 

furnishings and ensuited 

bathrooms, providing a 

cool retreat after a day’s 

exploration. 

The safari tents meanwhile 

were designed by architect 

Justin Long and interior 

designers Pike Withers, 

the Sydney designers 

responsible for the look of 

the award-winning qualia on 

Hamilton Island. The tents 

also contain single beds, 

creating a more affordable 

option for couples and family 

groups. Each spacious, 

fan-cooled tent has its own 

ensuited bathroom. 

The main lodge epitomises 

contemporary Top End 

architecture and contains 

a spacious lounge, library, 

bar and pool area, each 

designed for maximum 

[inset image] A cabin being prepared for the 

2800km journey across Australia, and [main image] 

the ten recycled cabins in place at Wildman. 

comfort throughout the 

seasons. Wildman’s 

restaurant offers guests 

exciting seasonal produce 

sourced locally and from 

around Australia. 

Situated amidst the unique 

environment of the Mary 

River Wetlands, the lodge is 

surrounded by a seasonal 

fl oodplain, a year-round 

naturally occurring 

billabong and is home to 

more than 150 species of 

birds and animals. A diverse 

and exciting range of tours 

are offered, including 

a dawn cruise over the 

fl oodplain, a crocodile and 

wildlife spotting sunset 

tour of the billabong, local 

Indigenous cultural tours, 

and day-trips into the nearby 

Kakadu National Park. 

Guests can also register 

their special interest and 

have guides plan tailor-made 

trips around barramundi and 

fl y fi shing, landscape and 

wildlife photography and bird 

watching. 

Environmental best practice 

technology has been applied 

across all aspects of the 

lodge, from the generation of 

solar power to the treatment 

of water and sewerage, with 

the aim of creating minimal 

environmental impact. 

For more information about Wildman Wilderness 

Lodge visit www.wildmanwildernesslodge.com.au 


Getting on with business 

It’s a good thing Dave Widders doesn’t mind a bit of 

a drive. In the same week he delivers his cultural 

awareness workshop to new IBA staff in Canberra, 

Dave will have travelled from his central NSW home 

in Armidale to Sydney, back up to Lismore, back down to 

Canberra and home again. 

For this business owner and father of six, however, 

those hours behind the wheel will have been well spent 

contemplating what Dave calls ‘the man in the mirror’. ‘The 

time in the car is my time’, he said. ‘I get to really sit and 

think about life; what can I do better in my business, better 

as a partner, as a dad’. 

As a skilled trainer and proud Anaiwan man, Dave Widders 

has been travelling the country for 16 years delivering 

workshops in family and community welfare, education 

and employment to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous 

audiences. He is now sharing his skills–along with his fi rsthand 

experience of being a business owner–as a facilitator 

of IBA’s Into Business workshops. 

Through the workshops budding entrepreneurs can explore 

the viability of their business ideas and make informed 

decisions about their own preparedness for business 

ownership. Using workbooks, group discussion and 

‘homework’, participants learn about the many skills they 

will need to run a business on a day-to-day basis, including 

marketing, distribution and fi nancial management. 

Dave appreciates the workshops’ focus on encouraging 

participants to take responsibility for their business from 


Gierson Lindsay, Yvonne Webb and Cherrie Sherman 

at Into Business workshop C in Darwin. 

the start, and fi nding their specifi c business solutions 

within themselves. ‘It’s empowering people to have that 

knowledge and skills’, he said. ‘You can be a role model 

and tell them what to do for the rest of their life, but when 

they’ve got a problem in their life they’re always going to 

come running to you, and that’s not empowering’. 

Dave believes the highly interactive nature of the 

workshops–which encourage discussion and brainstorming 

of ideas–are culturally appropriate for Indigenous 

Australians. ‘Most of our mob like to sit and yarn and 

listen... I’ve seen that across the board from high 

academics to people with numeracy and literacy issues. 

We prefer to sit down and listen–it’s been our culture for 

thousands of years’. Dave says those exchanges of ideas 

don’t only benefi t the participants. ‘I go as a learner, not 

just as a teacher’, he said, ‘and I have learned quite a bit 

from all the groups I’ve worked with’. 

Dave says he has observed two recurring motivations 

amongst participants interested in starting a business: the 

desire to become self-suffi cient, and the desire to create 

economic opportunities for family and community. ‘Most 

talk about wanting to be their own boss’, he said. ‘Money 

doesn’t really come into the picture until later. Most of 

them want to make a difference for our mob. They want to 

be role models and make a difference in their community, 

and just set a good example for their kids and the people 

around them… And they talk long term, like ‘I want to open 

my own business but employ young Aboriginal people to 

work for me’. They want to give our mob an opportunity’.

Dave says creating such long term opportunities requires 

hard work, focus and a willingness to make tough decisions, 

often concerning cultural obligations. He said: ‘I think most 

of our people are brought up with that sharing and caringtype 

attitude. It was something instilled in me as a very 

young fella, and I’ve seen that being role modeled around 

me. But I know myself with the business side of things, it’s 

trying to get the mob to understand that when you go into 

business ownership you’ve sometimes got to push the family 

and the community aside for your business to survive. That 

might mean knocking back someone for a loan or putting 

up with the ‘are you too good for us now’ stuff. So (in the 

workshops) we talk about the family and the peer pressure 

you’re going to get, the tug of war between mob and job… You 

have to really think about that going into business’. 

However Dave says it’s that same culture of sharing and 

generosity that lends a collaborative atmosphere to the Into 

Business workshops. He said: ‘I’ve found non-Aboriginal 

people are more competitive against each other and won’t 

share their ideas. But with the mob–and I’ve found this in so 

many different aspects of training–we tend to support each 

other. It’s like a big extended family coming in for a yarn’. 

After establishing his own business–Widders Consultancy– 

fi ve years ago, Dave appreciates how crucial those strong 

support networks are. He credits his partner and extended 

family with enabling him to successfully juggle his business 

and family commitments. ‘My partner is CEO of my world’, he 

Into Business workshop 

facilitator Dave Widders. 

said, ‘I’m second in charge in my own company. Without her 

I don’t think the family would be what it is, and the business 

wouldn’t be what it is... From the fi rst day I went to my partner 

and said I want to do this, what are your thoughts on it, I had 

her support 100 per cent. I wouldn’t have taken the leap if I 

didn’t have her support. And it’s a huge leap–tell me about it!’ 

‘I’ve told all the (workshop) mob, 

talk to people who have failed in 

business–they’re the best people to 

learn from because they’ll tell you 

what they did wrong’. 

Dave believes one of the barriers to more Indigenous 

Australians taking that same leap into business is selfbelief. 

‘A big thing with a lot of our mob is confi dence... But 

it’s learn as you go, life’s all about learning. I’ve told all the 

(workshop) mob, talk to people who have failed in business– 

they’re the best people to learn from because they’ll tell you 

what they did wrong’. 

Even with personal and professional support networks in 

place, Dave says he still learned some hard lessons in his 

fi rst year of business. He said: ‘When we got our fi rst couple 

of pay cheques we thought, wow, this looks pretty good... 

so we just went out splurging. And then oh, tax time–forgot 

about that one. So I had to go and do a workshop just to pay 

for that… The fi rst year was just about keeping our heads 

above water basically, and we didn’t really start profi ting 

until the second year. But now I make enough to do the right 

thing for my partner and kids. We’re not loaded, but that’s 

not the motivation’. 

Dave says that facilitating the Into Business workshops 

has reinvigorated his passion for his own business and 

vocation. ‘It’s been a new adventure. A lot of the stuff 

with cultural awareness, the motivation workshops and 

mentoring programs I run, I’ve been doing for fi ve years. But 

this is something new. Education and training is something 

I’m pretty passionate about, but I think the next step up is 

going into business. I’m trying to get our mob into jobs, and 

this job you want to get into, well you could turn it into a 

business if you know what you’re going into. And I love what 

I do, going out and connecting on that grassroots level, and 

the rewarding part of seeing people walking away (from the 

workshops) thinking ‘I can do this’ or ‘I don’t think I can do 

it’–but their choice’. 

To fi nd out more about the Into Business workshops 

visit www.iba.gov.au/itb or Freecall 1800 107 107 and 

follow the prompts to discuss your business idea with 

one of IBA’s staff. 


Helpful and friendly IBA staff are located Australia-wide. Find your local offi ce below, use our online 

locator tool at www.iba.gov.au/contact-us/locator, or Freecall TM 1800 107 107.** 

Australian 

Capital Territory 

National Offi ce 

Street: Ground Floor Bonner 

House East, 5 Neptune Street, 

Woden Canberra ACT 2606 

Postal: PO Box 38, Woden 

ACT 2606 

Phone: 02 6121 2700 

Fax: 02 6121 2730 

Northern 

Territory 

Darwin 

Street: Suite E/Level 1, 

49 Woods Street, Darwin 

NT 0801 

Postal: GPO Box 394, 

Darwin NT 0801 

Phone: 08 8936 1080 

Fax: 08 8941 2085 

Alice Springs 

Street: Level 2 Jock Nelson 

Building, 16 Hartley Street, 

Alice Springs NT 0870 

Postal: PO Box 111, 

Alice Springs NT 0871 

Phone: 08 8959 4283 

Fax: 02 6246 6313 

South Australia 

Adelaide* 

Street: Level 18, ANZ Building, 

11 Waymouth Street, Adelaide 

SA 5000 

Postal: GPO Box 9820, Adelaide 

SA 5001 

Phone: 08 8400 2000 

Fax: 08 8400 2010 

New South 

Wales 

Sydney 

Street: Level 9/300 Elizabeth 

Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 

Postal: PO Box K363, 

Haymarket NSW 1240 

Phone: 02 9207 6350 

Fax: 02 9212 4398 

Coffs Harbour* 

Street: 17 Duke Street, 

Coffs Harbour NSW 2450 


Coffs Harbour NSW 2450 

Phone: 02 6648 5800 

Fax: 02 6648 5888 

Grafton 

Street: Shop 9, King Arcade, 

22-26 King Street, Grafton 

NSW 2460 

Postal: PO Box 266, Grafton 

NSW 2460 

Phone: 02 6643 5944 

Fax: 02 6643 5077 

Tamworth* 

Street: Unit 2/180 Peel Street, 

Tamworth NSW 2340 

Postal: PO Box 684, Tamworth 

NSW 2340 

Phone: 02 6701 9000 

Fax: 02 6701 9014 

Wagga Wagga 

Street: 70 Baylis Street, 

Wagga Wagga NSW 2650 


Wagga Wagga NSW 2650 

Phone: 02 6932 3330 

Fax: 02 6932 3339 

* Denotes offi ces co-located with an Indigenous Coordination Centre. 

** Calls to 1800 numbers from your home phone are free. Calls from 

public and mobile phones may be timed and charged at a higher rate. 

Queensland 

Brisbane 

Street: Level 13/144 Edward 

Street, Brisbane QLD 4000 

Postal: PO Box 10906, Adelaide 

Street, Brisbane QLD 4000 

Phone: 07 3008 8300 

Fax: 07 3211 0399 

Cairns 

Street: 59 McLeod Street, 

Cairns QLD 4870 

Postal: PO Box 2499, Cairns 

QLD 4870 

Phone: 07 4048 8480 

Fax: 07 4031 0766 

Mt Isa* 

Street: 42–44 Simpson Street, 

Mt Isa QLD 4825 

Postal: PO Box 2416, Mt Isa 

QLD 4825 

Phone: 07 4747 3055 

Fax: 07 4747 3077 

Rockhampton* 

Street: Level 1/CQU Building, 

Corner Fitzroy and East Street, 

Rockhampton QLD 4700 


Rockhampton QLD 4700 

Phone: 07 4924 0040 

Fax: 02 6246 6594 

Townsville* 

Street: Level 4/235 Stanley 

Street, Townsville QLD 4810 


Townsville QLD 4810 

Phone: 07 4760 1060 

Fax: 02 6246 6597 

Tasmania 

Hobart 

Street: Hobart Corporate 

Centre, Level 3/85 Macquarie 

Street, Hobart TAS 7000 

Postal: GPO Box 1236, Hobart 

TAS 7001 

Phone: 03 6270 2252 

Fax: 03 6270 2223 

Victoria 

Melbourne 

Street: Level 10 

460 Bourke St, 

Melbourne VIC 3000 

Postal: GPO Box 4512, 

Melbourne VIC 3001 

Phone: 03 9920 6009 

Fax: 02 6246 2641 

Western 

Australia 

Perth 

Street: Level 7/140 St George 

Terrace, Perth WA 6000 

Postal: PO Box Z5271, 

St George Terrace, Perth 

WA 6831 

Phone: 08 9229 1400 

Fax: 08 9481 3815 

Broome* 

Street: 1 Short Street, Broome 

WA 6725 

Postal: PO Box 613, Broome 

WA 6725 

Phone: 08 9192 7855 

Fax: 08 9193 5958

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