Traditional owners’ position at the heart of Broome’s economy and development has not happened by chance.
ON the outskirts of Rubibi (Broome), at the 276,000-hectare Gumaranganyjal station, Nyamba Buru Yawuru is shooting for the stars.
“We want to be the best station in the country,” NBY chief business development officer Ellen Smith said.
“Not the best Indigenous-owned-and-run station, the best full stop.”
It is a bold pitch, particularly given NBY is playing in the same ballpark as dynastic cattle barons and Australia’s three wealthiest individuals.
But when you know the impressive resume NBY has already built, the dream for the station also known as Roebuck Plains is easier to see.
While much of the focus on traditional owner economic empowerment has centred on the relationship between Pilbara groups and mining giants, Yawuru has been quietly building its empire on land, commerce, and pastoralism.
And in growing that muscle, the enterprise vehicle for the Yawuru people hasn’t just broken the c-suite mould, it has completely shattered it.
None of NBY’s executive are more than 39 years old, 60 per cent are women and 75 per cent of staff are Indigenous.
Under the hood
Every decision NBY takes can be boiled down to one directive: mabu liyan.
It is a Yawuru phrase that translates to a place of good spirit, and in practice is a guiding term for living a life of responsibility to country, culture and community.
The directive has given rise to social enterprise programs, ranging from language lessons in school to workforce training.
“Everything we do we have to give due consideration to social development, capacity development, the commercial aspects and financial viability of our proposals, and also consider the environment and our cultural values,” NBY chief executive Nini Mills said.
“Those things sometimes conflict by way of potential risk and impact, but we try to focus our attention on projects and proposals that allow us to maximise outcomes on all of those fronts.
“The tangible application of our holistic development approach means that we are feeding in all of those other program areas into our commercial businesses.”
Mabu liyan isn’t just a value for NBY, it is an expectation for any outfits hoping to work with the organisation; and a deal breaker for those that do not align.
NBY’s 2023 financial report shows the organisation is sitting on about $100 million worth of assets, about $40 million of which is tied up in property.
The organisation had $14.7 million in income in FY23, down from $22.2 million in FY22. About 40 per cent of NBY’s $11.1 million revenue in FY23 came from goods and services, and 25 per cent came from government grants.
Expenses came in at $12.8 million.
“We are driving towards becoming a sustainable organisation financially, but at the moment we are heavily reliant on grants and drawing down on that original compensation plan that we already got through the [Indigenous Land Use Agreements],” Ms Smith said.
NBY employed 64 staff, 28 of them full time, during the 2023 financial year.
Notable luminaries of NBY include former federal senator Patrick Dodson, and Australian National University professor Peter Yu.
Cash cow
The live export trade has been making waves recently following the federal government’s May announcement of its plan to end live sheep exports in 2028.
NBY is not in the sheep game but there are widespread concerns cattle will be the next target.
Between the station and live export depot, NBY expects the cattle business to contribute substantially to its coffers.
“We are very conscious that we are … overexposed to the live export market,” Ms Smith said.
“You never know with biosecurity issues, government policy.
“We are anticipating that, at some point in the future, the screws are going to be tightened on the live export industry for cattle.”
NBY is already investigating carbon neutrality and carbon accounting, which it hopes can play a role in within three years.
“We are hoping we will ultimately achieve a more sustainable and diverse operation that pulls away from an overreliance on live export and builds on the Yawuru brand,” Ms Smith said.
“This brand we believe we can really push forward with a base product to market … through boxed beef that can lean on what is a holistic management principle run, owned and managed by Indigenous people … and underpinned by a carbon-neutral product.”
NBY is also hoping to grow fodder crops, having this year received approval for a 420-hectare parcel of land on the station to be converted into freehold for that purpose.
The need to future-proof the station is evident – it is the major employer for NBY’s workforce training programs – but doing so has come at a cost.
“When we took [Roebuck Plains] on in 2022 we were a little bit disappointed by the condition of a lot of the infrastructure that the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation had left it in,” Ms Smith said.
“We have effectively had to reinvest all the profits from the station over the past two years straight back into capital works to make sure it’s functioning well.
“That has been about $1.5 million, but ultimately we expect to see between the station and the export depot $1 million to $1.5 million in profit that will come out of that.”
Yawuru’s cattle genetics haven’t yet achieved Meat Standards Australia quality for boxed beef. It is something the enterprise is working on.
Meat processing up north is in a state of flux.
Kimberley Meat Company was placed into receivership this year and has been an on-again, off-again option for some time now.
“If it was another two years down the line we might have been interested in buying it, but we are not quite at the point right now,” Ms Smith said.
NBY may one day turn its eyes to acquiring agistment properties down south, but for now the focus is on getting Gumaranganyjal running smoothly.
Property prosperity
Operating a pastoral property isn’t the only project on NBY’s table.
Its landholdings in Broome have positioned the group as a key driver of the town’s growth prospects.
Yawuru holds parcels earmarked for light industrial and tourism, and a large swath of land capable of housing 750 residential lots near Cable Beach.
Approval timeframes, an issue familiar to many land developers, are a hurdle. “It is challenging to get that cycle right,” Ms Smith said.
“We are in sort of a boom period at the moment, but the timeframes to get the approvals on some of these land parcels is anywhere between two to five years.
“By that time who knows what the market is going to look like?
“Yawuru is fundamental to unlocking the future prosperity of Broome … not just for our people but for everybody, and we want to make a community that everyone can thrive in.”
NBY also runs a cafe and holds several property investments in town.
Another major project is the Yinajalan Ngarrungunil health and wellbeing campus.
After an asbestos find brought the project to a standstill in 2022, work on site has finally resumed.
Once complete, the campus will house a mental health step-up, step-down facility, renal hostel, and possibly an over-55s lifestyle village if there’s sufficient demand.
The health campus, land, and property interests all tie into the economic clout Nyamba Buru Yawuru has built over the traditional lands of the Yawuru people, which it’s hoped will future proof the organisation’s social causes.
“What we are trying to do is ensure we have strategic foresight over some of the bigger projects happening within Broome and the region that will naturally have an impact on our community,” Ms Mills said.
“And when I say community, I don’t only mean Yawuru community, but our community of Broome more broadly.
“While we are trying to drive our own commercial agenda and applying that holistic lens, we also find ourselves brought into the agendas of businesses and proponents within our community.”
As for mabu liyan, Ms Mills said the core Yawuru value fitted neatly with economic prosperity.
“I think the true definition of economic development is ... everything that happens within an economy and a society ultimately should be for the benefit of communal wellbeing,” she said.
“From our cultural perspective, we believe mabu liyan, that sense of individual wellbeing within a community fabric, aligns to the true definition.”
