Our Warndu (good) Story

Warndu curates Australian Native Food Experiences. Warndu is an Indigenous owned company which means good in the Adnyamathanha language

Be a part of the Australian native food revolution. A 60,000 year old legacy to our native plants, nuts, seeds and proteins. This is us asking questions and recognising our heritage. This is our decision to wake from past generations ignorance, to not bury our heads in the red earth, to seek healing and interconnection with people, plants and soil.
Warndu means 'good' in the Adnyamathanha language. With Warndu products we want you to feel good...

Warndu was founded in 2014 with the main intention on championing Australian Native Food and Culture. Sadly we were founded from a place of great frustration and sadness when Damiens pop was diagnosed with dementia, and a realisation that with his memory would go story. The great creation stories of his people, The Adnyamathanha people of the Flinders Ranges, whose care for country and its food go hand in hand.

Alongside of this was always the question of why do we not eat and embrace the great super foods of our own backyard? If we can pay $30 for a bag of Goji berries from South America, why do we not do the same of our own super food like the Davidson Plum?

We set out to REGENERATE culture, community, tradition, health, seas and soils, and from that created a retail range that for the best part of a decade was successful in many ways.

We are extremely proud of the products we created and the way in which we helped to grow the native food industry to where it is today, so for now we are putting retail on hold and concentrating on the rest of our business - culture and growing co-culture, climate-resilient communities using indigenous knowledge of plants and foods.

As well as this, we will still be curating boutique native food experiences and events for clients and our bigger impact work.

We are so grateful to have learnt from so many amazing First Nations peoples and cannot wait to continue this work, just in a different form for now.

Read about Our Impact statement →

Warndu founders

Warndu founders, Rebecca Sullivan and Damien Coulthard

We must develop a new co-culture approach to the future, drawing on the oldest continuous civilisation in the world and building to the resilience of a multicultural Australia.

Meet us

Warndu was founded in 2016 by Damien Coulthard, Rebecca Sullivan and Siobhan O'Toole.

Rebecca Sullivan

Rebecca Sullivan (@grannyskills) is a food educator, regenerative farmer, Yale World Fellow and TV presenter who has featured in ABC's Gardening Australia as well as on Channels Nine and Ten. She has a masters in sustainable agriculture, worked in the UK Slow Food movement and has taught natural living and cookery at River Cottage UK and The Agrarian Kitchen in Tasmania. Her writing can be found in in Peppermint, ABC Organic Gardener, SA Gardens and delicious.

Damien Coulthard

Damien Coulthard (@Damiencoulthard) is an Adnyamathanha and Dieri person of the Flinders Ranges, an international artist, cultural educator and high school teacher. He is a former board director of the South Australian Native Title Service.

Damien leads Warndu's education, cultural awareness and education.

Damien Warndu

Siobhan O'Toole

Siobhan O'Toole is a founding owner of the business. Siobhan was born on Yorta Yorta land (Cobram in Regional Victoria) and for 8 years worked to support Rebecca and Damien in building Warndu into a leading supplier of premiere Australian Native food. In 2024 she sold her share of the business, enabling Warndu to become 100% Indigenous owned. Siobhan is a fundraiser, business owner and a large scale program manager. Read more about Siobhan over at her website →

Our supporters and journey

2014 The initial idea for Warndu was spawned.

2015 Product development and testing took place.

2016 Founded as a PTY LTD and launched a successful crowdfunding campaign with ING Dreamstarter.

2017 Grant for Growth from ING and Sefa partners.

2018 Agreement with Hachette to publish our cookbook Warndu Mai.

2019 Launched Warndu Mai Cookbook. Rebecca was a finalist in the rural women's awards. Won the Gourmand Award.

2020 Received a grant from the ILSC and selected to work with PWC PIC to develop a business plan. Worked with Facebook (Meta) and Now We collide on small business marketing campaign.

2021 Adelaide Festival event curation of Ngarku'adlu (Let's Eat) with three days of Native Lunch Boxes, premium meals and experiences. Launched the Home & Body range and education sessions. Warndu moved to our new HQ at 279 Main North Road, Clare on Ngadjuri Country, in South Australia.

2022 Started RAP consultancy and speakers program. Curated the Quandong Festival in Quorn. Launched First Nation Food Companion cookbook with help from Murdoch Press. Nominated for small business award.

2023 Won the Australia Post Small Business Award. Launched our corporate gifting packages for custom collaborations, where we curated our first major corporate gifting delivery for SG Fleet.

2024 Warndu became 100% Indigenous owned.

2025 Warndu retail closed down to make way for something new. We still offer a select few pantry items and our best selling recipe books.