Adelaide-based Creative Native Foods has secured one of the season’s final Kakadu Plum hauls through Larrakia harvester, Shannon Motlop, extending a supply chain built on direct relationships with Indigenous harvesters working on Country.
The order, one of the company’s largest single Kakadu Plum purchases of the year, was hand-harvested during Damibila – one of the seven Larrakia seasons, running April to June – when bush fruits ripen across WA, the NT and QLD.
Aboriginal Community Harvest founder, Shannon Motlop, operates under harvesting permits across the region, including with the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation in West Arnhem Land.
Creative Native Foods is owned by Wiradjuri woman and entrepreneur ,Terri-Anne Daniel, and describes itself as Australia’s largest distributor of native ingredients, supplying chefs, bars, hotels and tourism operators nationally.
“Kakadu Plum is one of Australia’s most special ingredients, and we want to make sure it’s sourced the right way,” Daniel said.
“Backing harvesters like Shannon and his brother means the people doing the work on Country are the ones building the business.”
Kakadu Plum, known as Damiyumba to the Larrakia people and also called Billy Goat Plum, has been harvested across the Kimberley, NT and QLD for thousands of years. It is among the most nutrient-dense fruits in the world, with natural vitamin C levels up to 100 times that of oranges. The fruit is used by chefs in vinaigrettes, ferments, sorbets, syrups and butters, and has also found commercial application in health, beauty and skincare products globally.
Motlop, a former AFL player and founder of Aboriginal Community Harvest, harvests the fruit alongside his brother. He said locating Kakadu Plum trees requires knowledge of the land as much as the seasons.
“The trees are often abundant and recognisable by their large leaves, but the fruit itself can be selective. Fruiting depends on soil nutrients, rainfall, cyclones and other seasonal weather conditions,” he said.
“This traditional knowledge is still practised today and has been passed down through generations, including to me.”
According to University of Sydney research, Australia’s native food industry was valued at $81.5 million in 2019/20 according to, and has continued to grow, though Indigenous-owned enterprises still represent a small share of the overall supply chain.
Creative Native’s current Kakadu Plum order forms part of its broader commercial model supplying the ingredient to fine dining restaurants, bars and tourism operators, including Journey Beyond Group for its Great Southern rail journey between Adelaide and Brisbane.
