In 1999, in a garage in Canberra, ACT, an idea took shape and a new company was born.

Wiradjuri woman Peta Barnes and her husband Sean owned have since turned that idea into Chemworks Pty Ltd, a large and reputable company that supplies hospitality goods Australia wide from its Canberra office-warehouse and soon-to-be warehouse in Wagga Wagga.

Their daughter Hannah Barnes is General Manager of Chemworks Hospitality Supplies.

‘Chemworks is customer service driven, providing personalised service to each and every customer that we supply,’ Hannah said.

Chemworks is certified with Supply Nation’s Indigenous Business Direct, Australia’s leading database of Indigenous businesses. It has 6 Indigenous employees and 20 in total.

Peta and Sean’s children work actively throughout the business in every day operations.

Since 2019 the Department of Parliamentary Services contracted Chemworks, through the Australian Government’s Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP), to supply and install commercial kitchen equipment in seven kitchens located throughout Australian Parliament House.

Chemworks’ supply and installation were of a high professional standard and showed an astute sense of client requirements. They were proactive in their communications throughout all processes.

Chemworks also supplies small items such as hand sanitiser to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The IPP is designed to stimulate Indigenous entrepreneurship, business and economic development by increasing Commonwealth procurement from Indigenous businesses.

‘Chemworks is proud of the Indigenous Procurement Policy,’ Hannah said.

‘It will continue to grow and support more Indigenous businesses and assist Indigenous people to build their skills and knowledge. For us, this is something we are very passionate about.’

‘Chemworks have some exciting business ventures ahead,’ Hannah said.

‘We will be starting to manufacture our washroom paper products and some packaging lines like pizza boxes.’

‘This will support local jobs and production, the Australian Made campaign, reducing emissions and energy usage for Chemworks.’