Amid a growing trend for natural eco-friendly products, an Indigenous-led and owned business — Native Secrets, has made its mark.
Native Secrets Co-founders Bidjara man Phil Thompson and Wailwan woman Cherie Thompson harvest native ingredients to create skincare products on Wiradjuri country (outside Dubbo).
By harvesting overgrown species, they are restoring the lands natural biodiversity. Increased biodiversity helps reinvigorate the ecosystem for native wildlife, such as the rare Pink-tailed worm lizard. It also encourages other native plants like wattle and eucalyptus to regrow.
Native Secrets focus is to revive Indigenous knowledge uses for Australian native plants; they harvest oil from various plants, including the overgrown populations of white cypress.
Phil and Cherie work closely with Wiradjuri elder Uncle Peter Perckham to cultivate knowledge on traditional oil extraction practices. Native Secrets extracts oil from their wild-harvested natives using steam; it is then sent to Sydney to be refined. From there, it is added to shampoo, conditioner, essential oil, and body lotions sold across Australia.
Native Secrets hold a competitive edge as Australian manufacturers by growing and harvesting their products. As an Australian manufacturer, the use of native plants enables them to control the supply chain and minimises the risk of international delivery delays. This issue has affected many SME’s who were reliant on overseas production during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This oil has no added chemicals; it’s clean and green and not tested on animals. Our savvy customers want to know where the product is coming from, and we can show them here because we control the supply chain from tree harvest through to manufacture. In fact, people can visit the farm and find out exactly where their product is coming from and what impact it is having on the environment.”
Phil Thompson
For Cherie, working with native plants is a way to restore a connection with her Wailwan culture.
“It’s really important to understand the past and rekindle traditional knowledge. Learning about the medicinal uses of plants for our skincare, that knowledge is invaluable. And we want to pass it on to our kids”. Cherie Thompson
Native Secret’s mission is to ensure future generations remain connected to the country by providing opportunities to learn the ways of our Elders, past and present, and creating social, economic, environmental, and health benefits for our people.
Native Secret’s mission is to ensure future generations remain connected to the country by providing opportunities to learn the ways of our Elders, past and present, and creating social, economic, environmental, and health benefits for our people.
In December 2021, Native Secrets Cosmetics was announced as the face of the brand-new Woolworths online platform Everyday Market. The platform was formed out of a partnership between Todd Mckenny and Woolworths to highlight Australian-owned SME businesses.
FAC has supported Native Secrets since 2020 through our COVID-19 business support program, with business capacity building services and capital investment. Our relationship continues to grow as FACs focuses our work on accelerating the growth of Indigenous entrepreneurism in native botanicals and regenerative agribusiness industries.
To purchase Native Secrets products, please click here.
