Voice from the build
Karen Liddle on why the build matters
Karen speaks to the young people, the build and why this work matters for Oonchiumpa and the homelands pathway.
GoodsOn Country
A long partnership
Grounded by Oonchiumpa.
Built in Alice Springs.
Oonchiumpa Consultancy is a 100% Aboriginal-owned business led by the Bloomfield family. The partnership has helped Goods work in the right way in Central Australia: with cultural advice, local relationships, young people involved in the build and a practical pathway into Utopia Homelands.
Oonchiumpa is part of the enterprise pathway: young people from the network learning to build beds, Goods developing production capacity in Alice Springs and deliveries moving through relationships that already know the homelands.
In Fred’s words
Fred from Oonchiumpa on what the work is for.
Fred Campbell works with the youth program at Oonchiumpa. He talks here about why this partnership matters: the young people learning a trade, the families getting a bed that lasts, the family knowing they made it.
What two years built
Local knowledge becomes local enterprise.
2 yrs
Partnership in community
Oonchiumpa helped ground the work in community context, cultural advice and youth engagement.
Young people building
Photos from the May 2026 Alice Springs build session with young people from the Oonchiumpa network.
107
Stretch Beds delivered
To Utopia Homelands, May 2026. Funded by Centrecorp Foundation, delivered through the Oonchiumpa network.
100%
Aboriginal-owned
Oonchiumpa Consultancy is owned and run by the Bloomfield family. Cultural consultation is paid at university research rates.
How the partnership works
Oonchiumpa brings the relationships that make delivery possible.
Goods brings the bed, the production work and the asset-tracking system. Oonchiumpa brings local knowledge, cultural advice, young people into the build and the trusted pathway into Utopia Homelands. That is the work: making sure the product lands through the right people, not just dropping furniture at the end of a road.
The agreement treats that role as paid expertise, benchmarked to university research rates. Cultural advice, access and local leadership are part of the delivery model, not free background help.
In the works
A production facility pathway in Alice Springs.
Two shipping containers. A shredder for the plastic that comes in by the tub. A heat press that turns chip into sheet. A CNC router that cuts the legs. A workstation for routing, drilling and assembly. Power and water plug in.
The aim is to train local people, build production roles and move more value closer to the communities using the product. Beds ship under QR codes so every delivery is traceable.
Alice Springs · May 2026
Young people building Stretch Beds.
In May 2026 the Oonchiumpa team ran a build session in Alice Springs. Young people from the network learned to thread the steel poles through the canvas sleeves and the recycled-plastic X-legs, tension the frame, and finish beds for the Utopia Homelands delivery. Some of the beds also stayed with young people who took part in the build.
Voice from the build
Mykel on building the bed he used
Mykel talks about the bed, the build and what it felt like to use something he helped put together.
Utopia Homelands · May 2026
107 beds in homes, on country.
The first big deployment of the new Stretch Bed: 107 beds delivered to Utopia Homelands, unpacked on verandahs, assembled by the families who would sleep on them. Funded by Centrecorp Foundation. Coordinated through the Oonchiumpa network. Logged under QR codes so we know where every bed is.
From Oonchiumpa
What this partnership is about.
“We want to create a safe space for our young people. There’s a lack of housing, which leads to a lack of sleep, which leads to low school attendance.”
Kristy Bloomfield
Director, Oonchiumpa Consultancy
“We’ve been saying from the start, got to teach kids there’s a better way of living.”
Karen Liddle
On young people, accommodation and the build
What’s next
An on-country production facility in Alice Springs.
The next move is a shipping-container production plant being planned alongside the Oonchiumpa pathway in Alice Springs. Shredder, heat press, CNC router, workstation. The goal is a plant that can train local people, make bed parts and move more production closer to community.
The pathway is local knowledge to local enterprise to local jobs. Young people from the Oonchiumpa network have already helped build beds. The next step is training, production roles, QR-tracked deliveries and more value staying closer to the communities using the product.
Back the facility →Oonchiumpa Consultancy is at oonchiumpa.com.au. Read about the Utopia Homelands delivery with Centrecorp Foundation.