Meet our Founder
Meet the founder
“I am a proud Arabana woman, and everything I do is inspired by Country.”
Christine Sindely
Christine Sindely
Founder and Managing Director
About Christine
CF CEMD MICDA AIMM | Managing Director & Founder, Marnka & Co.
Christine Sindely is a Traditional Custodian with cultural ties to Arabana in South Australia and Wangkangurru in Queensland — an Indigenous Australian business leader whose work sits at the intersection of enterprise, economic development, and the responsibilities of caring for Country.
She brings senior leadership experience across resources, aviation, civil construction, tourism, government, health, and not-for-profit sectors. Her career has centred on creating sustainable opportunities for Indigenous Australian businesses and building respectful, lasting relationships with other Traditional Custodian groups.
A Winston Churchill Trust Fellow and board member of the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC, Christine holds qualifications from UNSW Business School, the Australian Institute of Management, and the University of South Australia. She is also a member of the Indigenous Advisory Board of JY Australia, and has been based in Perth for over two decades.
Kati Thanda
The stillness and the flood
The Arabana people are the Traditional Custodians of Arabana Country, including Kati Thanda, known to the world as Lake Eyre: a vast, shimmering salt pan in the far north of South Australia that has sustained life, story and culture for thousands of generations.
Most of the time, Kati Thanda is a great white silence, a salt lake so flat and still it seems to hold the sky.
A white silence, but one where the winds surround you and Country speaks to you, if you listen.
When the rains come and the waters flow, the lake floods. Waterbirds arrive in their hundreds of thousands, fish emerge from the ancient sediment, and the desert becomes almost unimaginably abundant. This duality, the quiet and the teeming, is at the heart of how the Arabana people understand Country. And it is at the heart of this brand.
The story of Marnka & Co.
Why, how, and what it all means
01
Why
A love of coffee and a clear-eyed question
Marnka & Co. was born from a genuine love of coffee and a question: why weren't more specialty coffee brands being led by Indigenous Australians?
Kati Thanda is under great threat. Climate change, water extraction and industrial pressure are disrupting the ancient cycles that make this place what it is. Marnka & Co. exists, in part, to raise that awareness, to bring Country into spaces it had never been, and to remind people that what we consume has consequence. Every cup is a small act of attention. And attention, over time, becomes care.
02
How
Small batches. High standards.
We are still in our first years, and there is something intentional about starting small. Every product that leaves us has been held to the same measure: would I be proud to put this in front of Country?
Across Arabana Country, mound springs rise from deep beneath the earth, fed by the Great Artesian Basin. Sacred to the Arabana people, they are places of ceremony, creation stories and life. They are the inspiration for the Marnka & Co. logo, a mark that carries that depth, that stillness, that sense of something ancient rising to the surface.
03
Meaning
Language is how Country speaks
Every blend carries an Arabana name, chosen with care and deep respect. Every word of Arabana that moves through the world is a word that survives. We are committed to carrying it forward, one bag, one cup, one conversation at a time.
Marnka
Abundance, in Arabana
It reflects the natural abundance of Country and the responsibility to take only what is needed, share what is given, and give back in return. Not excess. Not accumulation. The deep, grounded abundance that comes from living in right relationship with the world around you.
When you choose Marnka & Co., you are not just buying coffee. You are participating in something that matters, to us, to Country, and to the communities this brand is built to serve.
Inspired by Country.