540beds across Australia
11communities
20kgHDPE design mass per bed
The whole Maningrida bed run at sunset

Case study · Manayingkarírra, Arnhem Land NT

Forty beds, pressed at the Goods on Country facility in Queensland, assembled in community

A community-controlled organisation asked for beds and washing machines for homeland families. We pressed and packed the parts at our own facility, sent them north, and young people assembled every bed in community. It is the run that proves the making.

58
beds in homes
40
pressed at our facility
8
washing machines

This run was commissioned by Homeland School Company. The order, the timing and the destination were theirs. The work started with their ask.

How it worked

  1. 01

    It started with their ask

    The organisation came to Goods with a specific request for homeland families: durable beds and washing machines that survive distance, dust and crowded houses. The order, the timing and the destination were theirs. Nothing was pitched at them.

    Unrolling canvas with an Elder

  2. 02

    The parts were made, not bought

    At the Goods on Country facility in Queensland we pressed the recycled-plastic stock, routed the X-frame legs and packed complete kits for forty Stretch Beds. Canvases were sewn by a family business in Alice Springs. Shredded HDPE came from Defy Design.

    The heat press at the Goods on Country facility in Queensland

  3. 03

    Community assembled every bed

    The kits travelled to Maningrida and young people assembled the forty beds with community, learning the build as they went. A bed that assembles in about five minutes with no tools is a bed a community can own the making of.

    Build day at Gamardi

  4. 04

    The beds went into homes

    Young people assembled the forty Stretch Beds at Gamardi and the beds went into homes. Across Maningrida, those beds and the earlier eighteen Basket Beds are in homes. We receive regular feedback on how the beds are going. Washing machines went into community on the same run, joining machines already recorded there.

    Kids carrying an orange Stretch Bed

The film

In their words

"A good night's sleep means the kids are fresh and ready for school the next day."
Tehmineh Mason, Principal, Homeland School Company
"Nic show us how to put all things together, so yeah, we know how to pack it and unpack."
Eric Pascoe, On Country Learning Coordinator, Homeland School Company

What happens next

  • The making is proven; the next run is the measured one, timed and costed with receipts, which is the first thing the current raise buys.
  • The washing machines in community are the live prototype fleet for Pakkimjalki Kari.
  • What Maningrida asked for next belongs to Maningrida to say; when they say it, it will be here.

Could this work where you are?

  1. 01

    It starts with your ask, not our pitch: what would your families want first, beds, machines, or the making itself?

  2. 02

    A delivery run like this one needs a local organisation to hold it: a school company, a corporation, a council program.

  3. 03

    Young people can assemble every bed; the build is designed to be taught in a day.

  4. 04

    Owning the making is a pathway, not a purchase: collection, shredding, pressing, assembly can each move to community, one machine at a time.

Start a yarnThe whole road

Where to go from here

  • Buying for an organisation

    Beds for a health service, school, council or housing body, quoted and invoiced to your organisation.

    Get a quote

  • A community organisation

    Hold Stretch Beds, sell them to your own buyers and keep what they pay.

    Sell beds

  • Funding beds

    Fund a batch of beds made and assembled in community, with the receipts to show for it.

    Fund beds