From a Calendar Dream to Changing Lives: The Liza Fraser-Gooda Story

There’s a quote Liza Fraser-Gooda lives by:

“If it is to be, it’s up to me.”

By the time you’ve heard her story, you understand exactly why.

 

First Nations News proudly presents The First Nations Views Podcast, launching it’s very first episode this week with Peter Harris sitting across from one of Australia’s most quietly remarkable Aboriginal businesswomen.

Liza Fraser-Gooda is a proud Bidjara, Ghangulu and Iman woman, originally from Rockhampton on Darumbal Nation Country, who has spent the last two-plus decades building businesses, breaking barriers and pouring those dividends back into community.

A Calendar That Changed Everything

It started with a little sister who wanted to be a model. Liza watched her sibling get knocked back from agency after agency in Melbourne – Aboriginal women simply weren’t represented in the Australian fashion industry at the time. So in 1998, Liza and business partner, Dina Paulson, did what resilient First Nations women do: they created their own opportunity.

Jinnali Productions produced Australia’s first Aboriginal women’s calendar, going on to feature in Vogue, Cleo, Cosmo and FHM, walk in Brisbane Mall, and ultimately open New York Fashion Week in collaboration with an Australian designer.

But it didn’t start that way.

At the time, the two women were on the dole, making calls from public phone boxes and knocking on every bank door in Brisbane trying to secure a $10,000 printing loan. Every bank said no.

Until one manager handed them a credit card.

That was enough.

From Fashion to Hard Hats

The path from calendars to mining safety equipment isn’t obvious — but with Liza, it makes complete sense. After moving to Perth and building RedSpear with her partner Barry McGuire, a fatality on a mine site changed everything.

A young man was killed in a crusher. Why wasn’t he harnessed?

That question became the foundation of Redspear Safety – Australia’s first Aboriginal lifting and rigging business – and eventually SafeSpear.

Getting in the door wasn’t easy. The pair walked St George’s Terrace, cup of coffee in hand, meeting after meeting, chasing procurement teams in the big shiny buildings. Their timing coincided with the downturn in the mining boom.

Their first big pitch to Fortescue Metals Group was knocked back on the spot. They pivoted, persisted, and eventually landed their first contract – 250 items to site.

Eight years later, that contract covers over 3,000 items plus quarterly inspection services, height safety installation, fabrication, load testing and non-destructive testing.

Along the way, SafeSpear entered a joint venture with an international partner and – in what Liza believes was a first for an Aboriginal business in Australia – bought them out when the values didn’t align.

“Joint ventures should only ever be interim,” she says. “A skills transfer, not a permanent arrangement.”

Giving It Back

Success for Liza has never been about accumulation. It’s always circled back to community.

She co-chairs the Foundation of Indigenous Sustainable Health (FISH), which started with $800 in the bank and grew into a multi-million dollar organisation.

She also co-founded The Spear Foundation, which runs three programs: Everlasting Elders (culturally safe gatherings for Aboriginal elders), Smiling Child (supporting primary school kids just above the poverty line) and Djeelya – Liza’s personal vision – an early intervention program for Aboriginal girls aged 15–18 at risk of entering the justice system.

“I want to show these girls their dreams are achievable,” she says.

“Because I had a dream. I wanted to be a businesswoman.

And every day I wake up, I live my dream.”

 

The First Nations Views Podcast

His vision for First Nations Views: reporting from community, country and culture, celebrating success, being the “modern day message stick”.

Episode one sets a high bar. But if Liza Fraser-Gooda is the standard, First Nations Views has found its frequency.

firstnationsviews.com.au

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