Aerospace trailblazer; women-owned distillery; preserving Sky Country; Indigenous aquaculture enterprise provides life after mining
National Science Week
Great National Science Week INDIGENOUS stories up for grabs now around Australia
- From Yarrabah to the White House: an aerospace trailblazer – Randwick, NSW
- Indigenous female-led distillery make gin from native botanicals – Townsville, QLD
- A seafood future for Groote Eylandt after mining - Alyangula, NT
- Perth’s six seasons and the links between fire and flowers revealed by Noongar educator – Kings Park, WA
- A First Nations astrophysicist reads the art at the NGA – Parkes, ACT
- Native bees and seaweed at Redfern - Redfern, NSW
- How Australia can lead in ocean protection – Kensington, NSW
- A walk where ancient knowledge meets modern science – Ridgeway, TAS
- Palawa star stories around a mountain fire – Wellington Park, TAS
More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.
Scientists, experts, performers and event organisers are available for interview throughout National Science Week.
Read on for direct contact details for each event, or contact Tanya Ha, [email protected] or 0404 083 863.
Visit the Media Centre for all media releases and images available for media use.
From Yarrabah to the White House: an aerospace trailblazer – Randwick, NSW
From the Far North Queensland community of Yarrabah to the lawns of the White House, Daniel Joinbee will share the story behind Australia’s first and only 100% Aboriginal-owned aerospace consultancy.
A proud Gunggandji man and Royal Australian Air Force veteran – the first Air Force officer to earn navy diving and demolitions qualifications – Joinbee has gone from diving beneath naval boats in pitch-black water at night to building an aerospace venture grounded in his heritage.
In conversation with host Jonathan Webb, Joinbee will discuss his journey and how programs like Raising Horizons help First Nations communities blaze their own trails.
Thursday 13 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/daniel-joinbee-indigenous-aerospace-trailblazer/randwick
Media enquiries: UNSW Centre for Ideas, [email protected] or 02 9065 0485; Gunggandji Aerospace or [email protected].
Gin from bushtucker: distilling Indigenous botanicals and science – Townsville, QLD
Native lemongrass distilled into gin tastes like roses for some people and lemon for others, depending on their genes.
Proud Wiradjuri woman and gin distiller Clair Ryder blends Traditional Knowledge with modern science and innovative distilling, using ingredients that are ethically sourced with the blessing of Traditional Landowners.
Clair can talk about the chemistry behind native aromatics, the ecological significance of key species, and the cultural knowledge that has shaped their use for thousands of years.
She is presenting ‘Bush Alchemy’, a 90‑minute guided experience hosted by On Country Craft Distillery, the only distillery owned and operated entirely by First Nations women in Australia.
This session blends scientific insight with tasting raw bushtucker ingredients. Participants then experience how those same botanicals evolve when infused into spirits and incorporated into food.
Saturday 22 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/bush-alchemy-exploring-indigenous-botanicals-and-bushtucker-in-spirits/douglas/
Media enquiries: Clair Ryder, [email protected] or 0478 599 035.
A future for Groote Eylandt after mining - Alyangula, NT
Groote Eylandt is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Its economy relies heavily on manganese mining… which is ending. How do you create a secure future for an island in the middle of nowhere?
Marine biology, Anindilyakwa culture and aquaculture are coming together through an aquaculture enterprise to create jobs and protect the ocean. It’s a project of the Groote Holdings Aboriginal Corporation and the Anindilyakwa community.
Sea cucumber (“trepang” in Anindilyakwa language) is the core product sold to the lucrative Chinese market where it is a culinary delicacy and is used in Chinese medicine. Dried sea cucumber is lightweight, high-value and non-perishable: important for a product that has to be shipped via a 5-day barge ride to Darwin and then exported.
The enterprise puts an ecosystem to work to raise sea cucumbers in a way that cares for Sea Country. Droppings from seaweed-eating rabbitfish provide food for sea cucumbers. The rabbitfish also remove the seaweed scum that blocks the sunlight sea cucumbers need and provide a locally grown food source for the 2,100 people who live across the archipelago. Blacklip oysters help clean the system to the extent that the effluent water from the facility is cleaner than the water that enters it.
The enterprise now produces oysters, fish for local consumption, and edible, as well as sea cucumber.
Students from local Alyangula, Angurugu and Umbakumba schools will visit the Groote Aqua facility for four days of hands-on marine science, aquaculture, microscopes, water testing and community activities exploring how science and Indigenous knowledge can build a sustainable blue economy on Groote Eylandt.
On the fourth day, the site will open to the wider community, giving everyone the chance to experience marine science in action and see the enterprise that will support lives and livelihoods after mining.
Saturday 29 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/from-knowledge-to-independence-science-for-grootes-blue-future/alyangula
Media enquiries: Valentin Thepot, Groote Aqua Aboriginal Corporation aquaculture manager, [email protected] or 0460 012 284.
Val and aquaculture team members and Indigenous GHAC board members are available for media interviews.
Perth’s six seasons and the links between fire and flowers revealed by Noongar educator – Kings Park, WA
Perth has six seasons; ‘quenda’ is the Noongar word for the Southern short-nosed bandicoot who live at Kings Park; fire helps the flowering process of ‘balga’ grass tree, which produces stems that are used as fire sticks, resins used for tools, and flowers eaten and chewed like chewing gum.
These are some of the things Rickeeta Walley can talk about. She’s an artist and Noongar educator at Kaarta Koomba (Kings Park and Botanic Garden).
In 2023, she joined her father performing a Welcome to Country at a Harry Styles concert that went viral. This National Science Week she is taking people on one-hour walks on Country, sharing the traditional scientific practices and knowledges of the Noongar people, from detailing the way the six seasons provide for guidelines for environmental and ecological sustainability to revealing local plant species and how they are managed through physical chemistry, fire-processing, and eco-engineering, for food and tool resources.
Thursday 20 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/noongar-two-way-learning-walk-at-kings-park/perth
Media enquiries: Emily Denham, [email protected] or 08 9480 3688.
Rickeeta Walley is available for media interviews.
A First Nations astrophysicist reads the art at the NGA – Parkes, ACT
First Nations astrophysicist and cultural astronomer Peter Swanton will walk the National Gallery of Australia responding to works in the National Collection – and in Ngura Puḷka: Epic Country – tracing the links between contemporary science, visual art and the world’s oldest living continuous culture.
A Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay man, Swanton began his research in black holes and cosmology before shifting to cultural astronomy and dark-sky preservation. His work highlights the scientific importance of Indigenous star knowledges and the threat of light pollution
Friday 14 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/dark-sky-stories-and-art-art-vs-science-friday-art-talks/parkes
Media enquiries for Peter Swanton: [email protected] or 02 6125 7979
Event organiser: National Gallery of Australia, [email protected] or (02) 6240 6411
Native bees and seaweed at Redfern - Redfern, NSW
Learn how to care for Country with native bees, seaweed and Indigenous technology developed over thousands of years at the Indigenous Science Experience. This free event at the Redfern Community Centre celebrates Indigenous knowledge systems through interactive physics and chemistry experiments, yarning with Elders and a VR experience of Torres Strait Islander culture.
Saturday 22 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/indigenous-science-experience-at-redfern-7/redfern
Media enquiries: Joanne Jamie, [email protected], 02 98508283, or 0439 170 683.
Indigenous student leaders, First Nations activity providers, and event organiser Joanne Jamie (non-Indigenous) are available for media interviews. View video from 2024 event.
A walk where ancient knowledge meets modern science – Ridgeway, TAS
Take a guided walk through the Waterworks reserve in the foothills of Kunanyi with Pakana activist and cultural practitioner Cody Gangell-Smith and wild-food forager Westerly Isbaih, exploring how modern science is beginning to echo what First Nations people practising their culture have always known.
Connecting to Country is a gentle, slow walk about place-based traditional ecological knowledge and reawakening a reciprocal relationship with the land through the senses.
Part of the Beaker Street Festival.
Sunday 9 August and Sunday 16 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/connecting-to-country-a-practice-for-everyone/ridgeway
Media enquiries: Matt Fraser, [email protected] or 0401 326 007.
Palawa star stories around a mountain fire – Wellington Park, TAS
Hear the stories of Wurangkili Liwari (the night sky) with Pakana woman and UTAS Senior Indigenous Scholar Theresa Sainty who shares stories of her people’s uninterrupted connection to the stars – including the creation of Palawa, the first ancestor to walk the earth.
Photographers Luke Tscharke and Dr Andrew Phipps then guide guests through the southern night sky, learning palawa kani words for stars while gazing into the Milky Way, and discussing the importance of protecting Sky Country. Part of the Beaker Street Festival.
Multiple evenings, 6–15 August (SOLD OUT). Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/wurangkili-liwari-nipaluna-an-evening-of-palawa-astronomy-and-stargazing-sold-out-waitlist-available/wellington-park
Media enquiries: Matt Fraser, [email protected] or 0401 326 007.
National Science Week: background
National Science Week is Australia’s annual opportunity to meet scientists, discuss hot topics, do science and celebrate its contribution to our lives. Science drives economic and social change – from safe and nutritious food to reducing cancer deaths; from smart phones to AI; from under Antarctica’s ice floes to distant planets.
First held in 1997, National Science Week has become one of Australia’s largest festivals. Last year about 3 million people participated in more than 2,500 registered events and activities.
National Science Week 2026 runs from Saturday 15 to Sunday 23 August. Event details can be found at www.scienceweek.net.au.
National Science Week is proudly supported by the Australian Government, alongside key partners Questacon, CSIRO, the Australian Science Teachers Association, and ABC Science.
