IndigiGrow is a living, breathing, growing and evolving part of the La Perouse community. 

This is a story about restoring a critically endangered ecological community on Gadigal and Bidjigal Country, but also about creating pathways and opportunities for young Aboriginal people, sharing cultural knowledge, strengthening community and caring for Country – and the AEGN members who have gathered around this work via all of these separate themes.  

IndigiGrow is a First Nations-owned and led native plant nursery and social enterprise established by Peter Cooley through First Hand Solutions Aboriginal Corporation. Operating across two nursery sites in Sydney, it grows native plants, including threatened and culturally significant species, while providing employment, apprenticeships and opportunities for young Aboriginal people.

From a trestle table

Peter Cooley, a Bidjigal man, grew up in the La Perouse Aboriginal community on the northern shore of Botany Bay. Cultural knowledge came through family, Elders and time on Country: learning what could be gathered, which plants were food or medicine, and how knowledge was carried through everyday life. 

“You’re oblivious to the learning. You’re just enjoying yourself, having fun with everyone else – and you’re oblivious to the learning.” — Peter Cooley 

Peter spent around 20 years in his early career working as a diesel mechanic – looking back, he could see the value of both things he had been given: cultural knowledge and a trade. He also saw that many young people coming through were not getting the same opportunities. Plants became a way for Peter to bring those things together – connecting young Aboriginal people with Country and culture while creating training, employment, and pathways into meaningful careers. 

IndigiGrow itself started very simply: a trestle table, one tray of soil, a handful of seeds and a lot of ideas. 

“That nursery was once upon a time just a trestle table with one tray sitting in the middle of it. And that’s how I started.” — Peter Cooley 

Today IndigiGrow operates two nurseries, at La Perouse Public School and Matraville, and employs a growing team of ten staff. Five young apprentices have completed their trade, with another four just beginning their apprenticeships. Peter estimates that the organisation has created around 14 or 15 jobs over its journey so far – all grounded in cultural knowledge, practical skills and mentorship from community Elders. 

“I’m proud of our young people. The guts to step up, take on an apprenticeship, come out of their shell, jump in and want to do the hard yards and learn.” — Peter Cooley

Growing what others don’t

IndigiGrow’s environmental work is built around the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub (ESBS) — a critically endangered ecological community found on nutrient-poor, wind-blown sands along Sydney’s coast. Once much more extensive, it is estimated to have lost more than 97% of its original extent, with what remains now highly fragmented. 

The community includes banksias, wattles, grass trees, she-oaks and a diverse mix of other native plants, providing habitat for native wildlife, including a number of threatened fauna species. Restoring it means rebuilding a diverse ecological community — and some of the plants needed to do that are particularly difficult to propagate. 

Some of the plants most important to restoring ESBS are also among the least commercially viable. They can take years of trial and error to grow successfully, with no guarantee that the time invested will translate into plants that can be sold. IndigiGrow spent around four years working out how to successfully propagate Five Corners, a culturally important native bush food. 

For a commercial nursery, that equation is difficult to justify. For IndigiGrow, doing this work is a big part of their purpose. 

Peter describes species that mainstream horticulture rarely touches because the propagation work is slow, uncertain and expensive.  

“What commercial nursery could spend four years on one species learning how to grow it? It’s not possible.” — Peter Cooley 

The goal is not simply to produce plants for sale. It is to build the community knowledge and capacity needed to return threatened species to the landscape.  

The funding journey

The plants, knowledge, culture, young people, energy and commitment behind IndigiGrow come from community. Philanthropy’s role has been to back this community — providing resources, flexibility, relationships and capacity that have helped this idea continue to grow. As Peter puts it, flexible funding gives the organisation room to “breathe and achieve.” 

The AEGN members supporting IndigiGrow did not set out to fund it together. They came to the organisation at different times, through different relationships and with different funding lenses. IndigiGrow was an organisation bringing together many of the things they were already seeking to support: self-determination, opportunities for young Aboriginal people, culture and connection to Country, community-led economic development, biodiversity and restoration. 

Dusseldorp Forum – Teya Dusseldorp first met Peter through the La Perouse community, and the Foundation’s early support was primarily about opportunities for young people, including helping establish the nursery when it was still operating, as Teya Dusseldorp describes it, “on the smell of an oily rag.” Over time, the relationship with Peter and IndigiGrow also influenced how the foundation understood the connections between young people, culture and the environment. 

“When we first got involved, it would have just been about the development opportunities for young people,” Teya says. “Over the years, Pete’s taken us on these learning trips, and we’ve realised more and more that it’s all intertwined — that creating opportunities for La Perouse’s young people is connected to regenerating the plant life and looking after the environment. We’ve woven that more and more into our strategy as a result.” 

That experience is reflected, in different ways, across the group. CAGES Foundation has supported First Hand Solutions and IndigiGrow for several years, with a focus on strengthening the organisation and the employment and economic opportunities it creates for Aboriginal people. Its flexible approach to funding has allowed Peter and the team to direct support where it is most needed. Rachel Kerry, CEO of CAGES Foundation, says she initially understood the work primarily through a cultural lens and came to understand its environmental significance more deeply over time. 

“I’d always seen First Hand Solutions and IndigiGrow through a cultural lens. I probably didn’t understand how deeply it was valued from an environmental lens until I met someone like Kate Saunders.” — Rachel Kerry 

Katy Tyrrell, Executive Officer of Nelson Meers Foundation already knew Peter and his work from previous roles, so when a proposal from First Hand Solutions was among the first on her desk after joining the Foundation, she immediately recognised the opportunity and was keen to back it. 

Kate Saunders and Australian Ethical Foundation came to IndigiGrow more directly through an environmental lens, recognising the biodiversity and restoration potential of its work with Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub. That relationship has since developed into support for the Living Seed Bank and opportunities to connect IndigiGrow with Australian Ethical’s staff and wider networks. 

Macdoch Foundation came to IndigiGrow through its focus on food, agriculture and First Nations enterprises. Its support funds the salaries of two apprentices, helping create employment pathways for young Aboriginal people and building capacity within the nursery. Sally Garis, Program Manager at Macdoch recognises the holistic and innovative approach of IndigiGrow’s model, and the unique value of being able to provide connection to Country and Culture in such an urban setting – this connection and learning is also of enormous value to partners, funders and the broader Sydney community. 

“It’s just extraordinary that you can do that in an urban setting. And in a setting where the history of La Perouse is not a pleasant one, you’re creating new stories of hope and opportunities for connection to culture that a lot of people in urban settings don’t get.” — Sally Garis, Macdoch Foundation 

Different funders arrived at IndigiGrow from different angles. Some initially saw young people and employment, others culture and community, and others biodiversity and restoration. For IndigiGrow, it had always been about doing these things together. 

From shared support to collaboration

For the first few years, these were separate funding relationships rather than a deliberately designed collaboration. As Katy Tyrrell puts it: 

“This is not an intentional co-fund. It’s much more organic than that.”— Katy Tyrrell 

That began to shift as the funders became more aware of one another and started working together. While planning a session for the AEGN conference, Katy pulled together three of the funders to co-commission a short film about IndigiGrow’s work. The production included an opportunity for professional development for one of IndigiGrow’s staff, and gave the team an opportunity to speak publicly about work they’re proud of. View the short film here (password is: fivecorners).

The collaboration has since extended into conversations about IndigiGrow’s next major ambition: the Living Seed Bank. Peter shared early material with funders, who reviewed it, asked different questions and discussed what each might be able to contribute. Australian Ethical Foundation then provided funding to help get the next stage moving. 

“Knowing that others are co-funding gives the Board confidence to allow larger grants, and multi-year funding. They love that there’s multiple funders cooperating and sharing information – it adds credibility that other funders have done their due diligence too.”— Kate Saunders 

The value is not only in combining money. Different funders bring different relationships, experience, questions and networks. Rachel describes the conversations as richer because people approach the work from different angles; Kate points to the efficiency of sharing information and understanding the resources each funder can bring. It’s also, she adds, simply more efficient: “ they bring so much more value than just their funding, by being so collaborative in the way they do things. It’s really powerful in that sense — this collaboration. 1 + 1 = 3.“ 

It has made the funders better at their own jobs, too. “The more you have these discussions together, the more you actually get to know what resources and skills everyone has access to,” Kate says. “It’s the tip of the iceberg at this point. We’ve got a lot more to learn about each other.” 

That idea reflects the role philanthropy has played in the IndigiGrow story. The community holds the knowledge, relationships, commitment and vision. Funders are another part of that wider ecosystem, with resources and connections that can help create the space for the work to continue and grow.  

“Maybe the idea is that, as funders, we don’t have to operate at arm’s length. We’re part of the  
community, part of the ecosystem. It just so happens that one of the things we can contribute is  
money, but that’s no more or less important than anyone else’s contribution.”— Katy Tyrrell 

Where IndigiGrow is now

From that first tray of seeds in early 2018, today IndigiGrow’s two nurseries sell plants to councils, golf courses and residents across Sydney’s east. Five of its apprentices have completed trade qualifications; two nursery managers have gone on to other roles, replaced by the next generation coming through. The nursery partners with the NSW Golf Club — home to some of the highest-quality remnant ESBS — engages Long Bay Correctional Centre forensic hospital Indigenous patients into horticulture training through a fortnightly program, and runs the Blak Markets and corporate volunteer days alongside its core nursery work. 

“I think Sydney should be really proud that this is happening here. It’s a real beacon for social enterprise, bringing together the environment, culture, Country, community and employment outcomes — Katy Tyrrell, Nelson Meers Foundation 

This year, IndigiGrow ran a plant giveaway in partnership with five Sydney councils, deliberately chosen because they are in areas that should, or could, have ESBS coverage. These plant giveaways were a strategic move to build awareness — not just to get more Banksia into the ground now, but to have those councils already signed on as partners by the time the Living Seed Bank needs space and relationships to grow into. 

IndigiGrow has operated without government funding for the last seven years, relying instead on nursery sales and philanthropic support. “A lot of people don’t realise that,” Peter says. “They just assume it’s all government-funded. It’s not — we’ve had to generate our own income to stay alive.” 

The Living Seed Bank

The next stage, in Peter’s own framing, is restoration at scale. IndigiGrow has spent years building the skills and cultural knowledge to grow these plants well. The coming years will use that capability to create new, self-sustaining patches of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub — not just protecting the fragments that are left, but actively growing it back. Peter sees this as part of a longer journey: young people learning to grow plants from Country, restoring those plants through Living Seed Bank patches, and eventually developing the skills to manage those areas over time. 

The Living Seed Bank’s new, planted-and-managed patches of ESBS will be established using seed and plant material from existing remnants, and designed to be harvested for more seed over time — securing and building available supply for future restoration work, rather than slowly depleting what little remains. 

This is resource-intensive work and every plant that goes into a Living Seed Bank patch is a plant that didn’t go on the nursery bench for sale — meaning staff time spent on this is time not spent generating income.  

“That’s the hard yards. The propagation, the trial and error, engaging stakeholders. None of that work is currently covered by anything.”— Peter Cooley

What’s needed next

This story is a celebration of IndigiGrow, the collaboration that has grown around it, and an opportunity for AEGN members to share a call to action for the Living Seed Bank. 

If you would like to join these members in supporting IndigiGrow to build the Living Seed Bank, your funding can help strengthen this important work. It is an opportunity to support ecology, economic development, culture, nature and community — holistic change led by Aboriginal people and happening right in the heart of Sydney.

Enquire about funding the Living Seek Bank

Peter Cooley, CEO First Hand Solutions Aboriginal Corporation 

Mobile: 0404134655 

Email: peter@firsthandsolutions.org.au 

Watch the AEGN conference video of IndigiGrow’s work (password is: fivecorners)

Visit IndigiGrow’s nursery at La Perouse or shop online

Join the AEGN IndigiGrow tour and member networking lunch, Thursday 4 March 2027 10am-2pm – email jane@aegn.org.au to register.

Tell us about your own funding collaboration for future storytelling.