Bundjalung Alliance Bush Food Nursery

A First Nations-Led Regenerative Hub Growing Plants, Culture, Community and People

Bundjalung Country in Northern NSW faces a critical challenge: rapid development, climate stress, and biodiversity loss threaten the region's ecological future. Yet Indigenous knowledge holders, women, and young people remain excluded from the economic benefits of land restoration.

The demand is clear—native endemic plants for revegetation, access to traditional bush foods, ethical Indigenous-led supply chains, and training that reconnects people to Country while creating employment, income, food security and healthy ecosystems.

The Vision

Bundjalung Alliance Native Nursery is a First Nations-governed collaborative that unites Bundjalung organisations under a shared alliance model—no single organisation carries the burden, and all benefit equitably. The Returning Indigenous Corporation is leading the project in its early stages, with the alliance to be formed once the project is up and running.

We will:

• Grow and supply Bundjalung-specific native plants

• Train Indigenous community members in plant propagation and land stewardship

• Create meaningful employment and enterprise pathways for our Indigenous youth and Elders

• Reinvest surplus income into local Indigenous organisations

• Support landscape-scale restoration and cultural renewal

This is more than a nursery. It's a knowledge economy rooted in Country, combining cultural wisdom, ecological healing, and genuine economic opportunity for our people.

Seeding the Beginnings of the Project

We have secured initial funding to set-up our nursery site and employ a Bundjalung Elder as our Nursery General Manager. We have partnered with a local organic farm to become the home of our nursery and have begun initial works to get the space ready to start growing. Now, we just need to keep the ball rolling and keep donations coming in to sustain our first year of operation.

Youth Pathways to Training and Employment

The Nursery project builds on our existing Doobai Bush Food Program which takes local Indigenous teen girls on weekly excursions to local farms and gardens to learn about native plants, bush foods and caring for Country. Many of the youth participants are keen to continue to learn and train in this sector. The Nursery provides an Indigenous-led training and employment pathway for our youth, with the potential to tie in certifications and qualifications through Byron Community College and TAFE NSW.

What funds will support:

• ensuring we can employ our Indigenous Nursery Manager for the first two years of operation

• supporting the salaries of an Assistant Manager, as well as a trainee team of Indigenous youth and adults

• equipment, seeds, seedlings and other inputs

• marketing, administration and other overheads to ensure we can keep the nursery growing and building until it is generating its own income