§ About — Our Purpose
Biodiversity protection, nature restoration and seed preservation — with community seed banks.
We are living in a once-in-a-civilization moment, with profound consequences for the fabric of life on earth. Rebuilding food security by preserving, protecting and proliferating native seed systems is of vital importance.
SeedKeepers was established to support remote communities in establishing their own native seed banks and biodiversity registration — and to build the biological infrastructure behind Indigenous-led ecological restoration across Australia.
Country in the hand. Seed is life.
William Martin — Founder.
§ Decades of Experience
Our founder, William Martin, has been supporting seed banks and seed production since 2002.
SeedKeepers was founded to address the core challenges of our times — and offers an empowering horticultural movement, one that views management of Traditional Cultural Knowledge as social justice.
Native plant species around the world are disappearing every day due to habitat loss, climate change, severe wildfire seasons and extreme weather events. As these plant populations are lost, so too are the ecosystem services they provide — and the loss threatens the Traditional communities which rely on these varieties for food, medicines and cultural use.
Community seed banks have emerged as a vital community resource — not only for food and ecological security, but for the economic, political and social empowerment of communities.
§ From the Founder
A note from William Martin
For more than three decades, my work has explored a single question:
How do we preserve and carry forward the forces that sustain life?
Working Principle
I work with a small number of aligned organisations where there is a genuine commitment to long-term outcomes for Country, culture and community.
That question has taken me from recording the stories of Apache Elders in the forests of Arizona, to working alongside Tony Robbins, Anita Roddick and Dr Vandana Shiva, to living and working with Indigenous communities in remote Australia.
Over the past decade, my professional focus has centred on Indigenous governance, conservation, land management and restoration. I have worked alongside Traditional Owners, government and industry to develop Healthy Country Planning initiatives, protected area partnerships, cultural heritage programs and Indigenous-led approaches to stewardship and on-Country decision-making.
Today, my work sits at the intersection of Indigenous knowledge, ecological restoration and economic development.
Through SeedKeepers and Bush Botanics, I am focused on building the systems needed to support Australia’s emerging restoration economy — connecting native seed, biodiversity, cultural knowledge and long-term livelihoods into practical, scalable models that create lasting benefit for Country and community.
Current focus
- 01
Regional native seed readiness and restoration pathways
- 02
Indigenous-led seed, bush food and restoration enterprises
- 03
Strategic partnerships between Traditional Owners, government and industry
- 04
Restoration investment readiness and project development
- 05
Ranger workforce capability and environmental market participation
- 06
Native seed systems, provenance and long-term supply chain resilience
I believe the future of conservation in Australia will be Indigenous-led, restoration-focused and grounded in stewardship.
§ Our Approach
Listening to community. Guided by cultural authority. Building restoration systems for the long term.
The most important work often happens before any seed is collected.
In the Media
The Seed Savers — ABC Earshot
Listen to the ABC Earshot podcast on the seed savers — the story of community seed banks and the people who steward them.
Listen on ABC →Partner Project
National Indigenous Seed Bank Project
SeedKeepers contributes to and works alongside the National Indigenous Seed Bank Project to grow Australia’s community seed bank network.
Visit nisb.com.au →SEED IS LIFE.
Seed What Happens →