The TFFF’s newest strategic partnership with Yiliyapinya Indigenous Corporation reflects a simple idea: find strong organisations doing meaningful work, fund them well, and give them time to lead.

Australia's for-purpose organisations often work on challenges experienced over generations, yet many still operate within annual funding cycles. Leaders spend considerable time applying for grants, acquitting individual projects and reshaping their work to match different funding criteria. Short commitments also make workforce planning, organisational investment, and honest conversations about risk more difficult.

Queensland and the Northern Territory’s size and diversity make long-term partnerships especially important. Organisations working across rural, regional, and remote communities face higher travel and delivery costs, workforce pressures and funding systems often designed with metropolitan organisations in mind.

At the same time, both Queensland and the Northern Territory have strong local leaders and organisations with deep community relationships. Their challenge is often less about knowing what to do, and more about securing the flexible resources and continuity to do it well.

The Tim Fairfax Family Foundation (TFFF) is pleased to announce Yiliyapinya Indigenous Corporation as the latest organisation to join its Strategic Partner Program, with a nine-year general operating support agreement.

The partnership reflects TFFF’s commitment to long-term, trust-based funding and its belief that sustained investment gives for-purpose organisations greater stability to plan, strengthen their teams and pursue their mission with confidence. Yiliyapinya joins Dancenorth, Camerata, and Crossroad Arts, which became the program’s first strategic partners in 2024.

Yiliyapinya means “brain” in the Wankumara language. Founded in 2019 by Sheryl Batchelor, the organisation combines culture, neuroscience, and lived experience to improve brain health and facilitate healing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people, and the adults who support them.

Yiliyapinya’s work grew from a clear need for culturally responsive neuroplasticity programs. Its work rests on an understanding that the brain changes in response to experiences and environments, and that strengthening brain health supports learning, wellbeing, connection, and long-term healing. It is the ultimate prevention strategy for intergenerational trauma and disadvantage!

Yiliyapinya delivers a range of programs across South-East, Central, North, and North- West Queensland and the Northern Territory, including social, emotional, and educational support for young people experiencing school disengagement or contact with the youth justice system, early childhood support through Growing Deadly Brains® and Deadly Brains Playgroup training. The organisation also works with schools, service providers, government, and community organisations to strengthen understanding of brain health among caregivers and employees through their Workforce Brain Health programs.  This wider systems focus supports Yiliyapinya’s goal of improving the environments surrounding children, young people and families.

Yiliyapinya brings together Indigenous knowledge, community leadership and brain health science in a thoughtful and practical way. Over our existing partnership, we have seen the strength of Sheryl Batchelor’s leadership and the organisation’s commitment to children, families and community. Trust-based philanthropy begins with listening to the people closest to the work, backing their expertise and giving them the flexibility to lead. This nine-year agreement reflects our trust in Yiliyapinya’s direction and our belief that long-term funding gives strong organisations the stability to plan, learn and do their work.

– Tim Fairfax AC

TFFF first supported Yiliyapinya through its Resilience funding stream, which provides multi-year general operating support to organisations working in, or delivering programs across, Queensland and the Northern Territory. The new agreement extends this relationship and recognises Yiliyapinya as a strategic partner of the Foundation.

Over the nine-year term, flexible general operating support will assist Yiliyapinya to invest according to its own priorities. This includes strengthening organisational capability, supporting its people, refining programs and evidence, and building relationships needed for lasting community and systems-level change.

TFFF are leading the way in trust-based, long-term philanthropy. What this means for organisations like Yiliyapinya is more self-determination, decreased administrative costs, and a better ability to respond to current community needs. Few organisations are given this kind of runway, and we don't take it lightly. It's a vote of confidence not only in Yiliyapinya, but in the ability of our community to lead its own solutions.

– Sheryl Batchelor, Yiliyapinya Founder/CEO

TFFF’s approach reflects a broader shift towards trust-based philanthropy in Australia. At its heart, trust-based philanthropy recognises that for-purpose organisations understand their work, their communities and the conditions surrounding them. The funder’s role is to identify capable people doing meaningful work, resource them well, and give them room to lead.

Trust-based philanthropy requires more than a longer grant term. It involves flexible funding, proportionate reporting, open communication, and respect for the knowledge held by organisations and communities.

General operating support allows an organisation to invest where resources are most useful. This might involve retaining skilled staff, strengthening governance, developing evidence, updating systems, or responding to a community priority which was not apparent when an application was written.

Long-term funding also changes the relationship. A nine-year agreement reduces the time senior leaders spend preparing repeated applications and managing funding uncertainty. It creates space for honest conversations, thoughtful planning, and adjustment when circumstances change. Most importantly, it recognises organisations such as Yiliyapinya as partners with expertise, rather than recipients expected to work within a funder’s view of what their communities need.

This has particular significance when supporting Indigenous-led organisations. Trust-based philanthropy asks funders to listen carefully, respect community and cultural authority, and support solutions led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. TFFF’s partnership with Yiliyapinya recognises the organisation’s cultural knowledge, community relationships, and growing evidence base, and places decisions about its work with the people closest to it.

The Strategic Partner Program builds on TFFF’s shift towards multi-year general operating support, introduced as part of its current funding strategy and identified by the Foundation as the form of funding Australia’s for-purpose organisations need most.   

Yiliyapinya Indigenous Corporation is supported though the Resilience funding stream.

Over recent months, TFFF staff have spent time across Far North Queensland, reconnecting with long-standing partners, meeting new collaborators, and witnessing first-hand the extraordinary work happening across Far North Queensland's education, arts, and community sectors. Visits to the FNQ Brain Healthy Schools Forum, ICPA Qld Conference, and Cairns Indigenous Art Fair were all reminders that there is no substitute for showing up in person. Across every conversation, the strength of local leadership and the value of long-term, collaborative investment in people and place came through clearly.

Senior Program Manager Katie Norman spent four days in Cairns, Kuranda, and the Atherton tablelands in early June to attend the 2026 Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association (ICPA) Queensland Conference and a series of partner visits linked to the Brain Health in Queensland Schools initiative. The itinerary brought together educators, community leaders, government representatives, philanthropic partners, and rural families to explore opportunities to improve outcomes for children and young people across regional Queensland.

A highlight of the visit was the Far North Queensland Brain Healthy Schools Forum. The third such forum, and the first held in Far North Queensland, it was hosted by the Child Health Research Centre and drew 60 attendees from state, independent and Catholic schools. The forum showcased local examples of excellence and created space for new connections to form between people championing student wellbeing and learning, reinforcing the growing momentum behind brain health approaches in Queensland schools.

Alongside the forum, Katie visited several TFFF partners. At Deadly Inspiring Youth Doing Good (DIYDG), she met with the leadership team in the organisation’s new home in Manunda to discuss its future direction and ongoing focus on strengthening opportunities for First Nations young people. Jodie Gosel from the John Villiers Trust joined the visit, a sign of the collaborative funding culture growing across the region, and the DIYDG team openly recognised the value philanthropy offers in pursuing their self-determined strategic priorities.

Katie also met with Sheryl Batchelor from Yiliyapinya Indigenous Corporation and the First Nations Justice Office team, who brought welcome news that the first round of Queensland Justice Reinvestment Grants was almost settled, with $5 million to be distributed to First Nations place-based work in Queensland in the near future. Conversations with Youth Cre8 Kuranda, Cape York Partnership, and local schools, joined by travelling partners Dr Georgia Dawson from the University of Melbourne, Alisha Chand from Queensland Kids Partnership, and Susan Hornbeck and Monica Mudderidge from the Shepherd Family Foundation, offered further insight into the innovation and commitment driving community-led solutions across the region.

Katie’s visit concluded with the ICPA Queensland Conference in Atherton. Ningana Trust supports ICPA Qld State Council Members to attend each year’s conference and participate in delegations with state government and peak body representatives. As always, the conference was an opportunity to deeply listen to the priorities of rural and remote families, with discussions covering educational access, workforce challenges, the growing pressure on early years infrastructure in the bush, and agricultural pathways for young people. It reinforced the vital role organisations such as ICPA Qld play in advocating for equitable educational opportunities for children growing up outside metropolitan centres.

A month later in July, Program Manager Hannah Barr landed on Gimuy Walubara Yidinji Country for the 2026 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), curated to the theme Reclamation and Regeneration. As CIAF Artistic Director Teho Ropeyarn explains it, “Reclamation is the active retrieval of what was taken, lost, archived or forgotten; whilst Regeneration is the renewal and transformation of that knowledge into vibrant, living cultures.”

Queensland’s vibrant, living, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures were expressed in full throughout CIAF’s four-day program across the Tanks Art Centre, new Fashion Performance venue at The Mill, and satellite venues including the refreshed Cairns Art Gallery Precinct and Bulmba-ja.

Hannah’s visit began with the Cairns Art Gallery's 'On the Lawn and Live' event in recognition of NAIDOC Week and CIAF. Five significant Queensland First Nations exhibitions were curated across all three Precinct galleries, showcasing diversity and excellence in weaving, printmaking, painting, and multi-modal installation practice.

The infectious energy of CIAF’s Opening Night on Thursday 9 July set the tone for a successful Fair, with thousands taking in the Art Fair Showcase (90 artists with 800 works) and Artisans Showcase (130 artists across 36 market stalls), and attending powerful dance, music, and cultural storytelling performances. TFFF partner Circa Cairns premiered Nurture, a new female acrobatic duet exploring women’s strength, leadership, and storytelling directed and co-choreographed by Kukuyalanji and Waanyi woman Marilyn Miller, with original music by Yalanji man Luke Briscoe.

TFFF-supported Fashion Performances on Thursday and Friday platformed 24 collections from emerging and established Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders designers and Art Centres and facilitated Indigenous cultural exchange with international guest designers from Taiwan and New York for the first time.

The visit allowed Hannah to connect with many more of TFFF’s past and present peer and partner organisations across the arts sector, including Aboriginal Art Co, Umbrella Studio, artisan, Dancenorth, QAGOMA, JUTE Theatre Company, QIC, and Arts Queensland and Regional Arts Advisors through the Regional Arts Services Network. It was particularly heartening to see the leadership of the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation cheering on the CIAF team and Queensland’s Indigenous Art Centres and independent artists.

Hannah was fortunate to experience various additional events as a delegate in CIAF’s expanded ‘On Country’ Program hosted by artist Tony Albert and supported by Perina Drummond. Through artist talks and shared meals, artists, curators, collectors, and CIAF supporters built new connections with artists and each other, and learned more about Gimuy Walubara Yidinji Country. The TFFF thanks CIAF’s leadership team, Tony Albert, and Perina Drummond for their hospitality, and encourages everyone to bookmark next year’s CIAF dates: 8-11 July 2027.   

Both trips underscored something the TFFF team knows well: there is no substitute for being there in person, and there is real strength in funders travelling and working alongside one another. Whether meeting with educators, youth leaders, artists, or community organisations, conversations highlighted the power of local leadership and long-term investment in people and place, and reinforced the value of taking time to listen, learn, and strengthen relationships.

Deadly Inspiring Youth Doing Good, Youth Link (Youth Cre8), Circa Cairns, and the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair are supported by TFFF through the Resilient funding stream. The Brain Health in Queensland Schools initiative is supported though the Futureproof funding stream.

The Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association Queensland is supported by Ningana Trust.

Founded in 2018 by dancers Frankie Snowdon and Madeleine Krenek, GUTS Dance is the beating heart of contemporary dance in Central Australia. GUTS is based at the Araluen Art Centre in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, and is the only contemporary dance organisation within a 1,500km radius. At its core is the belief that healthy communities dance together, and that artistic excellence and community engagement must go hand in hand.

The seeds of GUTS were planted in 2012 when Frankie and Maddy, as independent artists, created Alice Can Dance, an in-schools education initiative. Alice Can Dance now engages over 200 students annually across Central Australia – from all government-funded schools, including Alice Springs School of the Air and Owen Springs Youth Detention Centre – culminating in a community showcase where students create, rehearse, and perform their own dances.

GUTS is a vital partner in the Central Australian region in providing students access to the Arts curriculum and world class dance teachers, artists, and practitioners who understand the unique context of the area. Alice can Dance 2025 will showcase at the Araluen Arts Centre on 21 November.

Creating pathways and spaces for young people is foundational to GUTS’ work, and this legacy has continued through programs like Brave Bodies, a weekly initiative for female-identifying and non-binary young people aged 12–18 that provides access to dance, mentorship, and public performance opportunities. The program is focused on First Nations engagement, but also includes culturally diverse and other disadvantaged youth, providing them with transport, food, uniforms, mentorship, and paid performance opportunities.

Since its inception, 30 young women have engaged with the program, showcasing their work on multiple public platforms including Parrtjima Festival, DesertMob, The Desert Festival and Alice Can Dance. Brave Bodies has also supported the professional development of local teaching artist Toni Lord (Arrernte, Yankunytjatjara), who facilitates the program.

I have had the privilege to be able to watch my granddaughter Toni Lord…evolve as a role model and mentor for the young women of Alice Springs who participate in the program. I have been able to observe the development of the program, and the positive impact it makes in our community for young women to have the opportunities to learn, perform and create dance within a positive and safe environment that nurtures them as individuals and artists.

– Phyllis Gorey, local Arrernte Elder

Participating in the various programs GUTS offers in our community has helped me with my dance training, connected me with other young Aboriginal women/girls that share the same interests as me, and most importantly it has always been a safe place for me and my peers to go.

– Jasmine McGinness, who has danced with GUTS for nine years.

A recent increase in requests for activities for young men to participate in has resulted in GUTS introducing Young Men’s Intensives in partnerships with schools, facilitated by Chandler ‘Cheeky’ Connell (Wiradjuri, Ngunnawal) and Casey Natty (Kamilaroi), creating inclusive spaces for young men to grow in confidence and creativity.

GUTS is equally committed to making and touring new contemporary dance works from the region. Since 2018, it has supported artists to develop and present six new works – all of which premiered in the Territory before touring regionally, nationally, and some internationally. GUTS is dedicated to ensuring the Australian cultural narrative is reflective of artistic expression found all over the country.

It’s exciting to discover high-quality Australian dance companies. It’s even better when they’re from regional locations, where nurturing new art is important…GUTS is top-quality Australian modern dance, of the calibre and polish you might ordinarily associate with big cities.

– Chantelle Ngyuyen, reviewing a Sydney performance of Value for Money in 2023 for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Looking forward, GUTS’ strategic goals focus on:

• Creating, presenting and touring brave and relevant contemporary works
• Championing artist development through experimentation, conversation, and exchange with leading national dance organisations
• Expanding youth and community engagement and participation
• Raising the profile of performance practice in and from regional and remote Australia.

GUTS embodies the vibrancy of regional Australia. Through its youth programs, artist residencies, public classes, and touring works, it is creating pathways for the next generation while raising the profile of regional and remote artists on the national stage.

At its heart, GUTS is about connection, creativity, and courage – using dance to bring communities together, invest in young people, and ensure that bold artistic voices from Central Australia are heard across the country.

GUTS Dance is supported through the Resilience funding stream.

FY25 saw the TFFF distribute $8.096 million to 43 for-purpose organisations through values-based philanthropy. This included the commencement of three nine-year funding agreements in a new strategic partnership program – the terms of which may constitute a first for Australia’s arts sector – reflecting the Foundation’s belief that long-term, trust-based partnerships enable organisations to focus on their mission with clarity and stability.

The TFFF has long recognised the significance of the work carried out by Indigenous-led organisations in Australia, and the importance of listening deeply to Traditional Owners, amplifying their voices, and supporting their solutions for meaningful change on their own terms. In FY25, the TFFF supported 27 First Nations-led organisations, distributing a total of $3.36M to First Nations leaders, organisations, and projects.

We would like to extend sincere thanks to TFFF Trustees Tim Fairfax AC, Gina Fairfax AC and Jim Peterson, and Advisors Sarah O’Brien, Lucy Coulson, Fiona Poschelk, and Prue Pateras for their commitment to the work of the Foundation. Above all, we thank the for-purpose sector leaders, staff, and volunteers who give their time, energy, and passion to build stronger, happier, healthier, and more inclusive communities. Your work inspires ours.

Cover photo: Lighting the Dark Brisbane Festival Premiere Season - Chris Dyke and the Dancenorth Ensemble. Image: David Kelly 2024, courtesy of Dancenorth.

Murrup partners with remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in four locations in Queensland and the Northern Territory, to deliver place-based programs that support children and young people through their early years, school journey, and beyond.

Founded in Palm Island as the Cathy Freeman Foundation in 2007, Murrup has grown to support communities in Woorabinda, Galiwin’ku, and Wurrumiyanga. ‘Murrup’ is the word for Spirit in Woi Wurrung, the language of the Wurundjeri People, who are the traditional owners of the lands where the organisation’s head office is based in Naarm/Melbourne. The transition from the Cathy Freeman Foundation to Murrup, an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation, is a significant step forward for the organisation and demonstrates its renewed focus on culture, First Nations leadership, and place-based impact.

Two-thirds of Murrup’s Board are First Nations Peoples and 100% of staff in Murrup’s four partner communities are local people, ensuring that programs are culturally relevant and delivered with a local lens.

In each of the communities Murrup serves, co-design is undertaken to develop and deliver place-based programs, supporting young people and families in their homes, schools, and neighbourhoods, while helping them navigate systems and services.

Murrup’s programs span:

• Early Years Support – supporting families to access services, coaching and mentoring, and practical learning and development tools.
• School Engagement and Retention – in-school and in-home support to improve learning and attendance, provision of practical resources, health checks, and assistance to attend camps.
• Strong Transitions – ensuring young people have what they need to work or participate in further studies, including work experience and settling into opportunities away from home.
• Neighbourhood Support and Community Development – after school and holiday programs, community events, community leadership programs, and yarning with Elders.

Murrup’s programs are designed to support children and their families across the life course and are underpinned by emerging neuroscience research combined with cultural ways of knowing and doing. All programs are implemented on the ground by local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, ensuring projects are appropriate to the community context, and also providing positive role models for young people and building the capacity of the community in a long term and sustainable manner.

Murrup recently brought staff together from its four remote communities for professional learning – many travelling outside their communities for the first time. The organisation is now committed to creating a learning and development program for its community-based staff, supporting both their ongoing employability and improved outcomes for children and young people.

Murrup has been successful in its first Queensland State Government grant, which will support its workforce strategy in Palm Island and Woorabinda. A new funding agreement with TFFF will support Murrup’s learning and development strategy in the Northern Territory, in Wurrumiyanga and Galiwin’ku.

By investing in education, leadership, and capacity-building, Murrup is creating pathways for young people to thrive and shaping stronger futures for families across its remote communities.

Murrup is supported through the Resilience stream.

Originally written and published by Milimgimbi Art and Culture on 14 April 2025.

In March of this year, Milingimbi Art and Culture’s Djalkiri Keeping Place launched Djalkiri Wäŋa – The Djalkiri Database, a customised computer database that allows digital collections held in Djalkiri Keeping Place to be accessed more readily by the Milingimbi community from day to day. Designed specifically for Yolŋu access, the database centres Yolŋu worldviews, language, and relational concepts to make it easier to search and explore.

Djalkiri Keeping Place (DKP) works to digitally repatriate collections back to Milingimbi – from photos by people who have lived and worked there, to documentation of physical artworks and objects held in major national and international museums and galleries. With over 25,000 photos of people, places, artworks and objects from some 80 locations across the world now returned to DKP, along with their data, these collections can be difficult to navigate.

Djalkiri Wäŋa was created to address this, giving community easier and safer access to their historical cultural material from Milingimbi and surrounding homelands. This means all material goes through collections and cultural processes with appropriate senior Yolŋu to make sure all stories and images are open and safe for everyone to look at, and records and spelling are corrected according to Yolŋu knowledge.

Milingimbi Arts and Culture now has over 3,500 items on the database that can be searched via their associations with Yolŋu (people), bäpurru (clan) and wäŋa (place), bringing the relational nature of Yolŋu collections to the fore. By creating links between media and these fields, their interrelationship can be explored. Ownership relations between objects and their makers are also recorded, building a web of cultural information that reflects miny’tji (design), bäpurru (clan) and gurruṯu (kinship) relations on the ground.

A story feature allows people to add their own memories, knowledge and understanding to artwork, photographs and other media. This system of documenting many perspectives reflects the process of consensus building, while also acknowledging that the ideas and language of many researchers and collectors were a product of their time and not always accurate. Stories allow for easy clarification and correction of existing documentation, inserting Yolŋu voices and authority into the narrative.

Already, Djalkiri Wäŋa is in demand from the community. Artists can find relevant historic works from their family lines that help reinvigorate cultural knowledge and important stories of places and songlines. People come to look at photos of their families, remembering their Old People, and the Old Ways. With permission, people ask for copies of photos for bäpurru (funerals), or to take home and show families.

Djalkiri staff continue to work towards growing the number of collections accessible via the database, prioritising collections that are of importance to the community. This ongoing work with senior knowledge holders and the wider community is vital for DKP, building the foundations for future generations to stand and learn on.

Djalkiri Wäŋa has been developed using a data model from the Cultural Ecology and Livelihoods Learning System (CELLS) which was developed in Indonesia by NGO The Bebali Foundation, Yayasan Pecinta Budaya Bebali in collaboration with Threads of Life and with the support of Australian Volunteers for International Development. Building on this model in collaboration with The Bebali Foundation, developer Robert Fox and the Queensland University of Technology, DKP worked with cultural leaders, artsworkers and teachers to test and develop both database systems and a user interface for use by Yolŋu.

You can read more about the history of Milingimbi and the lead up to the formation of Djalkiri Keeping Place at its website.

Milingimbi Art and Culture would like to warmly thank all the people and partners who have supported Djalkiri Keeping Place and the development of Djalkiri Wäŋa since 2020. The Tim Fairfax Family Foundation generously supported Djalkiri Keeping Place and the development of the database, including foundational resources, since 2020. Creative Australia has funded the development of the Yolŋu user interface now in use on the database. We are now working with the support of NT Aboriginal Investment to strengthen self-governance of our collections.

We also extend our heartfelt thanks to the many community members and individuals who have contributed their time, knowledge and guidance. We’re proud that these collections are increasingly accessible and visible to our community.

Originally written and published by Milimgimbi Art and Culture on 14 April 2025.    

The TFFF thanks Milingimbi Art and Culture for providing permission to reproduce this story.  

Milingimbi Art and Culture was supported through the Resilience stream.

Gunawuna Jungai was established to represent the cultural authority of the Gangalidda and Waanyi peoples in Doomadgee, located in the Lower Gulf of Carpentaria in north-west Queensland. There has been a long-standing gap in service delivery approaches in Doomadgee – while more than 70 organisations are funded to deliver fly-in-fly-out services to the community of 1,400 people, outcomes in health, housing, education, and justice continue to fall short of community expectations.

Gunawuna Jungai is locally governed and community-owned and led, representing the family groups that call Doomadgee home, and is committed to reshaping service delivery models to address the compounding problems of entrenched disadvantage. The organisation exists to serve the Doomadgee community and strengthen families, communities, culture, and country by embedding community leadership at the heart of decision-making and development.

The name Gunawuna means ‘child, every child, everyone’ in the Gangalidda language, and Jungai is a well-known word in the area for ‘authority’ or ‘boss’. Together, these words bring a sense of a collective, from the youngest to the oldest in the community. Gunawuna Jungai has a vision to create a thriving, independent, sustainable, and culturally strong community in Doomadgee for future generations.

Gunawuna Jungai means we’re all in this together, doing it for each other, doing it for our community, Doomadgee.

- Barry Walden, Chair

In 2022, Doomadgee was the first Queensland site nominated by the Joint Council on Closing the Gap to implement a Place-Based Partnership – an approach designed to prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in shaping solutions that work. This invitation was accepted by the Doomadgee Aboriginal Shire Council Mayor, and Gunawuna Jungai was nominated to represent the community in this national initiative, in one of only six locations across Australia selected for the program. The Place-Based Partnership aims to formalise collaboration between the Doomadgee community and both state and federal governments.

The Partnership has seen Gunawuna Jungai take an active role in policy conversations and service reform, meeting with senior officials across government while continuing to prioritise local engagement and capacity-building. Gunawuna Jungai is committed to walking slowly and purposefully with community, building a model of leadership that reflects the strengths of culture, kinship, and country. This slow and steady approach ensures relationships are built on trust and accountability, rather than fly-in-fly-out interventions.

Gunawuna Jungai has been recognised at both state and national levels for its leadership and advocacy. In 2024, it was funded by Queensland Health to address five recommendations from the coroner’s inquest into rheumatic heart disease in Doomadgee. Staff have been employed to deliver outcomes in response to the recommendations, including enabling Doomadgee families to contribute to recommendations for change in local health services.

Gunawuna Jungai was also successful in securing a position as one of Australia’s Justice Reinvestment pilot sites, and a work plan has been developed in partnership with the Attorney-General’s Department to reduce youth interaction with the justice system through community-based prevention and early intervention strategies.

In its first full year of operation, Gunawuna Jungai made significant progress on key aspects of its strategic plan, including supporting 29 local residents to register ABNs, growing the pool of sole traders in Doomadgee and increasing economic participation, and purchasing a bus and BBQ trailer to enable community engagement and support local events.

As it enters its next stage of growth, Gunawuna Jungai remains focused on reshaping service delivery in Doomadgee, deepening partnerships with government, and restoring local agency and authority in decision-making processes. Plans to expand its impact include exploring alternative housing models tailored to the needs of Doomadgee families, establishing sustainable business ventures to create income streams and local employment, reigniting community identity through the local rodeo, and futureproofing culture through the development of a youth-led Gunawuna Jungai initiative.

Gunawuna Jungai is supported through the Resilience stream.

Topology Inc is an award-winning arts organisation, encompassing contemporary performance ensemble ‘Topology’, its Creative Academy arts education program, and its Creative Communities community and cultural development service. Established in 1997, Topology has had a significant impact on both music education and community-driven arts engagement in Queensland, and has been in partnership with TFFF since 2014.

The organisation has a vision to be ambassadors for creativity, whilst excelling in creating original music, connecting artists through collaboration, and inspiring communities through shared musical experiences. Topology aims to deliver a minimum of 50 creative workshops annually to engage communities, enhance skills and encourage collaboration, with a particular focus on Indigenous and regional participants, and consistently exceeds this target: in 2024, it delivered 432 creative workshops across Queensland, tailored to communities, schools, and specialised programs.

Topology’s Creative Academy runs educational programs for emerging composers and musicians of all ages, offering mentorship, workshops, and performance opportunities. Music education is provided in schools, online, through its one-on-one creative mentorship program Launchpad, and through Creative Bootcamps delivered in communities around Queensland. Creative Bootcamps offer participants the rare opportunity to unleash their creative potential through an inspiring, integrated, and industry relevant program. Participants experience hands-on workshops with fellow artists, published composers, virtuoso musicians, and arts industry professionals, culminating in participants, artists, and tutors showcasing the new work created during the bootcamp.

In 2024, Topology held its first ever On-Country Creative Bootcamp, held over a week at Normanby Station in Cape York, with nine students from Cooktown State School in attendance. The Bootcamp was initiated at the request of the Station’s Traditional Owners, the Harrigan Brothers of Black Image Band. Topology has been working with the Harrigan Brothers to develop a long-term strategy for On-Country creative experiences, with a core focus being the mentorship of young and emerging First Nations musicians.

Topology created a short documentary following the Normanby Station bootcamp, culminating in the performance of the original music created On Country, and later arranged a second performance for the whole Cooktown school community.

Growing in popularity and demand, 2025 will see Topology deliver Creative Bootcamps in Texas, Rockhampton, Inglewood, Cooktown, Charleville, Normanby Station, Brisbane, Goondiwindi, Yarrabilba, Logan and Townsville.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to share in the Topology visit. An amazing opportunity for creative locals to gather and enjoy the company, inspiration and encouragement from the Topology team. Your dedication and skills are most appreciated.

- Mary Schwartz, Texas Creative Bootcamp “Texas Has Talent” Participant

Topology recognises that communities in rural and regional Australia do not have the same access to services as those in metropolitan areas, impacting their capacity to participate in the arts and develop their own artistic endeavours. It actively supports creative communities by providing access to high-quality arts events, workshops, and consulting services, helping to bridge the gap between regional communities and the arts.

The Growing Creative Communities Strategy was developed in response to extensive research and community consultation by Topology and partners around Queensland. After a TFFF-funded pilot in 2019, Topology set out in force to support rural and regional communities to grow their social and creative capacity and come to own their identity and achievements as creative communities in their own right.

To facilitate this, Topology works with communities to establish Creative Regional Hubs designed to provide communities with the opportunity to work with professional performers and crews, and delivers a range of programs including creative consulting and professional development, the delivery of customised Topology Creative Academy programs for regional communities, and Creative Community Workshops across Queensland. These workshops, for participants of any age, are designed in consultation with the community, and based on the needs of the group.

As part of its Queensland Stories – A Legacy Project, Topology worked with communities across regional and remote Queensland to create and showcase their stories through music before performing them for the community. Topology also engaged local photographers and videographers to create music videos for the stories.

Topology’s slow touring model, which it continues to refine each year, allows the organisation to build deeper, more sustainable relationships with communities. Spending longer periods in each location enables more meaningful engagement with local participants, supporting the development of their own agency and creative capacity. The slow touring model provides more opportunities for people in communities to attend workshops, performances, and events by fostering ongoing participation, cultivating a sense of ownership and pride within the community.

Topology is supported through the Resilience stream.

Overcrowded and poorly ventilated housing is a major driver of preventable diseases among Aboriginal communities, with more than half of all Indigenous people in the NT living in overcrowded homes. These overcrowded and overheated homes have been blamed for high rates of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in the NT, a preventable condition caused by repeated, untreated streptococcus A infections. Australia has one of the highest rates of RHD in the world, and rates have doubled between 2012 and 2021.

In the community of Tennant Creek, houses with poor thermal performance, lack of cultural consideration, overcrowding and insufficient maintenance have resulted in residents facing health issues, financial hardship, and disruption of cultural practices. Wilya Janta (‘Standing Strong’) is pushing to define a new standard for housing in these communities through culturally sensitive collaboration, design, and building.

Although Wilya Janta was only registered in 2023, its mission has been developed over 20 years, due in no small part to the relationship between co-Founder and Warumungu Elder Norman Frank Jupurrurla, and Dr Simon Quilty, who has been working in the Northern Territory for nearly two decades. Simon’s medical and academic background examining heat and health in the NT and Norm’s rich Warumungu-based cultural knowledge and advocacy led to initial success with a pioneering solar project, and has resulted in their advocacy work around housing innovation to address energy insecurity and broader inequity within the community.

Most remote and regional housing is poorly designed, lacks proper insulation or shading, and has little natural ventilation – in an area of the country that regularly sees temperatures above 40 degrees for days on end in summer. This poor design creates ‘heat caves’, where houses are hotter inside than out, often forcing residents to make difficult choices between paying expensive electricity bills for air conditioning and meeting basic needs, such as medication, food and education. Remote Northen Territory residents are three times more likely to be living in overcrowded houses, and 50 times more likely to be homeless compared to the national average.

Overcrowding and poor thermal efficiency are not the only ways in which current housing is unsuitable for its First Nations occupants. Local Indigenous people have never been consulted in the design process of their homes. There is limited consideration of cultural practices or the way in which Indigenous families live with the land and with each other.

Warumungu people sleep with “gwarda to the Manu” (ear to mother earth) and with their head to the east and feet to the west, yet houses have no liveable outdoor sleeping areas and are not built in an east-west orientation. There is a strong spiritual connection to the use of fire in preparing food, yet houses come with ovens and firepits are strongly discouraged. Cultural avoidance relationships are still deeply honoured, yet overcrowded houses force “poison cousins”, who are not allowed to be in each other’s presence or even make eye contact, to cross paths daily.

These are the problems Wilya Janta aims to solve by promoting community agency in the design and construction of government housing. The pilot project, building two demonstrative ‘Explain Homes’, will seek to overcome ongoing failures in the design of present-day housing developments through culturally sensitive collaboration, design, and building.

Current Tennant Creek Housing: extremely poor thermal design with no breezeways and almost no outdoor livable space. The yard has been compressed during construction, so nothing will ever grow on the sharp, barren gravel. Thirteen people live in this house. Photos by Andrew Quilty. 

Wilya Janta recognises that designing Indigenous homes in remote communities is vastly different to designing houses for non-Indigenous Australians and requires a unique skillset and process to ensure that it is done appropriately. The proposed Wilya Janta model employs local experts as Indigenous Housing Consultants, who will gain experience and skills through designing their own houses as part of the Tennant Creek Housing Pilot.

Engaging the community in the early design phase ensures core cultural design principles are appropriately incorporated into the design phase of the project. The result will be beautiful, functional, culturally safe, thermally efficient, off-grid, climate resilient housing that maintains a connection between the built environment, the community, and the natural surroundings.

Wilya Janta commenced with the restoration of a brick making machine in Tennant Creek to reinvigorate employment opportunities in the community, partly funded by TFFF through a grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal. These mud bricks, made from local anthill and spinifex, will become part of the newly designed houses, quite literally embedding Country into homes, while also providing local employment opportunities.

Construction has now commenced on the demonstration houses, which include deep verandas to protect from the sun, breezeways and multiple access paths to allow for ventilation and avoidance relationships, and a connection between inside and outside spaces: as residents spend large amounts of time outside, a focus was placed on outdoor cooking areas, as well as landscaping to make the most of the surrounding natural environment.

Locally, Wilya Janta recognises the importance of strengthening ties with community through cultural events and by providing employment opportunities. With the success of the pilot demonstration homes, Wilya Janta will refine and expand the model to assist the construction of 10 to 20 new houses in the Tennant Creek community. It has already received invitations to work with other remote communities to design culturally and climate-relevant homes and is committed to building a capable workforce to meet the growing demand.

Proposed design of the Wilya Janta demonstration home.

Wilya Janta is supported through the Resilience stream.

Storyfest is the leading children’s literary festival for the Gold Coast community and surrounds, with a mission to deliver unforgettable storytelling festivals and programs for young people and families, stimulating curiosity, creativity and empathy.

Born out of the Somerset College school community in 1993 as the ‘Celebration of Literature’, Storyfest is now a not-for-profit organisation delivering annual, multi-day literary festivals on the Gold Coast, in Longreach, and – newly in 2024 – in St George and Emerald.

Along with festival delivery, Storyfest’s activities include year-round outreach programs, in-school workshops, pop-up lending libraries, and adult engagement and fundraising events.

Storyfest’s programming has attracted significant engagement in regional Queensland. In 2022, Storyfest delivered its first two-day regional festival in Longreach, Storyfest Out West, reaching over 2,000 attendees. The festival was developed and presented with the Longreach School of Distance Education as the leading education partner, a relationship that continued through the event’s return in 2023 and 2024.

Storyfest had our whole community in mind... They provided adults in the Central Western communities with the opportunity to attend a variety of events including workshops for parents and teachers to support students both at home and in school.

- Rachelle Moore, Deputy Principal, Longreach School of Distance Education

Storyfest Out West experienced strong interest and attendance from other regional communities, resulting in the organisation expanding to deliver three regional festivals in 2024 in partnership with schools, businesses, local councils, and Arts Queensland, along with its original Gold Coast festival – all of which received overwhelmingly positive feedback.

The festival made its inaugural appearance in St George with Storyfest South West in late August 2024, returned to Longreach with Storyfest Out West in early September, and delivered another first with Storyfest Central Queensland in Emerald, also in September.

Storyfest’s regional festival delivery aims to expand on its mission and bring a love of storytelling to rural areas of Queensland.

We are acutely aware of the significance of literary programmes in regional Australia, and are working hard to bring the benefits of books to as many regional spots as possible.

– Storyfest

Each festival delivers a series of literary experiences, along with workshops and opportunities for budding readers and writers alike. Highlights include a Literary Lunch, a Prologue Party, and the opportunity for attendees to explore the bookshop and get their books signed by their favourite authors.

Programming includes student and adult workshops, adult panel sessions, and a young writers’ dinner providing young people the opportunity to spend an evening workshopping with some of Australia’s bestselling kids and YA fiction writers.

Storyfest Gold Coast: 1 – 3 April 2025

Storyfest Out West (Longreach): 10 – 12 September 2025

Storyfest South West (St George): 1 – 3 September 2025

Storyfest Central Queensland (Emerald): 16 – 17 September 2025

Storyfest is supported through the Resilience stream.