Our Story
Shaped by lived experience and a belief in the power of opportunity to change lives across generations.
Built from experience
For our founder, Daniel Joinbee, the importance of opportunity is deeply personal. His family history tells a story of how profoundly opportunity and choice can shape lives across generations. His great-grandmother was forcibly removed to Yarrabah under the Chief Protector system, denied the freedom to determine her own future. A generation later, Daniel’s mother worked three jobs to give him access to education and opportunities, determined that he would have the freedom to choose his own path.
Daniel carried that belief in choice into his career. Looking back on his time in the Royal Australian Air Force, he recognises how fortunate he was to be part of an environment that encouraged him to explore his interests, take on new challenges and pursue opportunities he might never otherwise have imagined. When he stepped forward, there was often someone willing to back him.
Those experiences shaped a philosophy that now underpins the Gunggandji Aerospace Foundation.
“You can’t be what you can’t see.
But young people can’t see what we don’t show them.”
Daniel believes the opportunities he received carry a responsibility to create opportunities for others. Through the Foundation, he wants more young First Nations people to have access to the people, experiences and connections that expand what they can see, explore and choose for themselves.
But his ambition goes beyond the individual. When a young person returns home talking about a career they never knew existed, an experience they’ve had or something they now want to pursue, it can change the conversation around the dinner table. Families begin discussing possibilities they may never have considered before, and those conversations can shape expectations and opportunities for the next generation.
For Daniel, that is where generational change begins. The Foundation exists to make those possibilities visible, create meaningful access and support young people to pursue the futures they choose, so the opportunities created today can continue opening doors for generations to come.
Our Brand Story.
The Gunggandji Aerospace Foundation visual identity was a collaboration born from many hours and stories exchanged between Founder Daniel Joinbee, Indigenous artist Lisa “Sorbie” Martin and creative agency Pennybridge. Focussed on developing a meaningful representation of the Foundation, it’s community, their stories and the pathways formed.
The Foundation’s logomark is drawn from the Yarrabah wattle, a plant endemic to the land the Gunggandji name comes from. The wattle’s flowering id know to indicate the coming of the Wet Season, when Country comes alive, so it is a fitting icon of growth, abundance and the seeds of opportunity.
The mark is built in layers, each with its own meaning. A single bloom stands for connection. Joined together they become community, and the outer blooms hold the centre in support. Dashes carry the idea of people and pathways, and the sequence dash, dash, dot is “G” in Morse code, a quiet signature for Gunggandji. The dashes radiate outwards as movement, and the dots at their ends are trajectories leaving orbit, a nod to the aerospace pathways the Foundation opens up. At the centre sits a star, the foundation and the heart that everything grows from, and a link to the guiding stars in Lisa’s artworks.
Together the layers form one icon: a blooming flower with a star at its heart, sending people out on their own pathways.
About the Artworks
The brand is grounded in three original artworks created by artist Lisa “Sorbie” Martin of Sorbie Collections. Lisa researched the area gathering botanical, geographical and cultural knowledge to create each piece and its accompanying story. Elements of each artwork appear throughout the visual identity, as a way of connecting the stories they represent to the Foundation’s values.
Your Star
Your Star celebrates every person being unique, like the stars in the sky and the sand grains in a Torres Strait beach that resemble tiny stars. It also honours “freshwater embraced by saltwater”, the blended families whose bloodlines are part of Gunggandji Country. The artwork’s dashes represent the paths forged through resilience, respect and mutual support.
On Country
On Country brings these threads into a single piece depicting Gunggandji Country. Red dashes are the bloodlines of Traditional Custodians and the pathways they have made. Yellow marks community bonds, and pink seed pods celebrate the growth of young people and their futures. Green stands for the Wet Season rainforest and the mountains that watch over Country like ancestors, while light blue is the currents and tides and deep navy is the celestial realm.
Seasonal Bounty
Seasonal Bounty centres on the Yarrabah wattle. Its flowering reveals, alongside the stars and earth patterns, signals of animal behaviours on land and abundance at sea. The artwork’s dashes are a depiction of raindrops and seeds falling to the earth.
Board & Governance.
Each member of our Board brings a distinct skill and perspective, strengthening the Foundation's work with partners and communities.
FOUNDER & DIRECTOR
Daniel Joinbee
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Joshua Vick
DIRECTOR
Rosie Korman
CHAIR & DIRECTOR
Warren Entsch
DIRECTOR
Anna Alexander
How it all connects.
Three parts, one purpose: connecting aspiration with opportunity, and workforce capability with industry need.
Technical delivery — sovereign capability for Defence, aviation and security-sensitive environments.
Gunggandji Workforce Innovations
Workforce capability — inclusive, low-barrier models that strengthen participation and long-term careers.
Future workforce development — building the pipeline of young people who will fill those careers.
Evaluated in partnership with CSIRO.
The CSIRO have acknowledged the Gunggandji Aerospace Foundation as a valuable organisational partner. The Foundation's commitment to collecting information relating to student participation, aspirations and outcomes, and exploring approaches to strengthen data sovereignty without creating unnecessary reporting burden, has also been noted.
The Foundation is committed to engaging with the CSIRO’s Partnerships and Industry Engagement (PIE) and Impact and Evaluation Teams on-going, to build and maintain strategic partnerships that increase participation and investment in STEM. This work is underpinned by the CSIRO and Gunggandji Aerospace Foundation’s shared goals around inspiring young people and the adults who influence them.
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