A Slice of Country: Dreamtime Tuka’s Journey to our Shelves
In the heart of regional NSW, a powerful story is being told one delicious slice at a time. It’s a tale woven with heritage, community, and the simple magic of sharing food. Dreamtime Tuka, a small, Indigenous company from Wellington, whose beautiful cake slices, featuring native Australian ingredients, have now found a home in Woolworths stores, thanks to a memorable taste and a unique connection.
A supplier visit, a suitcase, and a shared vision
Several years ago, our bakery team visited Earlyrise Baking Co. in Dubbo, a fourth-generation family business known to our team as a supplier of quality Australian-made brioche. During that visit, a chance tasting of a new product range left a lasting impression on Category Manager, Resale Cakes, Laura McLeod. “It wasn’t just a taste, it was an experience that stayed with me, a warmth and joy I’ve carried for years,” Laura reminisces. “I knew, deep down, that if I ever had the chance, I had to share that feeling with others.”
“It wasn’t just a taste, it was an experience that stayed with me, a warmth and joy I’ve carried for years”
That slice belonged to Dreamtime Tuka, a collaboration between Earlyrise Baking Co and its founder, Herb Smith, a proud Wiradjuri man. The seeds of this partnership were planted when Herb, a former police officer looking for a new venture after a long career, decided to create a business rooted in his own family history.
“My grandmother cooked a lot in the kitchen, and she used some of the Indigenous ingredients,” Herb explains. “I thought, ‘Well, we always enjoyed them,’ and it was a good way to look at a product that we could sell right across Australia.”
He brought a briefcase full of his sample products and met with one of Earlyrise’s Co-Directors, John Stevenson, who would soon be Dreamtime Tuka’s Production Manager as well. The meeting, which John vividly remembers, lasted three hours. “Herb came in and we sat down there for three hours,” John says. “I can remember it. It was super vivid in my brain.”
“It’s a wonderful example, if they’re looking for examples of reconciliation this is it. Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people working together in a business and being successful.”
John was immediately taken with Herb’s passion and vision as he loves anything innovative and new. The connection was instant and deep. The Stevenson brothers’ story as a fourth-generation bakery resonated with Herb’s own family history and his desire to honour his grandparents. What began as a contractual agreement quickly blossomed into a profound business partnership and friendship, built on a shared love of food and community. “He’s one of the brothers now, the Stevenson brothers, aren’t you?” John says with a laugh.
A slice of Australian history
For thousands of years, sharing food has been a cornerstone of Aboriginal culture, a practice that builds connection and community. Herb shared, “Aboriginal culture is shared in many ways. You know it’s done in artwork, it’s done through stories. Going back to the days when people sat around a campfire, sat on the river, just sharing stories and food.”
Dreamtime Tuka carries this tradition forward, offering a modern way to share a piece of Australia’s Indigenous history and heritage.
“We’re sharing that cultural aspect with everyone through a food item which everybody loves,” Herb says. “We’re trying to make sure that all those connections, those dreams, the uniqueness of the food is celebrated, I suppose, and brought to life.”
The name “Dreamtime Tuka” itself is a tribute to Herb’s late grandfather. As a child, his grandfather would call out, “Hey, all you kids… come inside now. Sit down, have a feed of tucker. You’re going to get a full belly and you’ll go to bed and have sweet dreams.”
Herb says his grandfather’s words came to him in a “light bulb moment” when he was struggling to name the company. “I started to think about that story of him saying that and bang, I thought that’s it. I’ll take his words and that’s the name of my company, Dreamtime Tuka.”
The products themselves are a celebration of unique Indigenous ingredients, something Herb sees as an important educational tool. The team has seen a rise in interest in native ingredients since starting their journey more than a decade ago.
“It’s exciting to create food that includes ingredients that people may not have heard of or tasted before”, John says. This is why they chose the Davidson Plum Crumble Slice for their first Woolworths launch – it was the very product that captivated Laura years ago. The second is a Macadamia Butterscotch Slice, a perfect companion.
Colin Wise, Assistant Category Manager Bakery Cake said, ‘It’s not often a Category Manager remembers the taste of a product from three years ago. I knew for Laura this was something that wasn’t going to go away. The first call to John to gauge interest was great, his enthusiasm for the opportunity was immediate, we quickly moved to schedule a meeting where I remember being blown away by Herb’s story, the quality of the product and the genuine commercial opportunity.”
He continued, “After sampling with the team to get feedback, Laura and I chose one flavour each, it’s not really a competition, as they’re both excellent products, but “Go Butterscotch Macadamia!”
More than a product
This is more than just a new product for Woolworths. It’s an opportunity to bring a unique offering to the mainstream. Until now, Dreamtime Tuka products have mainly been enjoyed as a snack on domestic and international Qantas flights. This new partnership means customers can now easily purchase and enjoy the slices whenever they want.
“It’s such a buzz now that we can tell them, ‘Go to your nearest Woolworths and you’ll be able to buy it'”
The brand’s reputation precedes it, with customers sharing their positive experiences far and wide. Herb recounts a story from an American friend who tried the Wattleseed Brownie Slice, brought over by a friend on a Qantas flight. “I’m an American, I grew up with brownies, but your brownie is the best I’ve ever had,” the friend told him.
The launch has also been met with a powerful response from the Indigenous community. “We’re getting so much recognition from Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who are so proud of what we’re doing,” Herb says. “An Indigenous woman messaged me on Facebook recently to say she got goosebumps seeing our products on the shelf.”
This new partnership is a testament to the quality and unique appeal of the product itself. “The product did all the talking in Laura’s brain. She said it burnt a hole in her mind or in her memory,” Herb says. “There’s no doors being opened because we’re an Indigenous company. We’re not getting a free pass, and that’s great for me, too, because I’ve never wanted to do that. We want to stand on our own, and we’re doing that with our product.”
A family, a community
For Herb and John, this isn’t just a business; it’s a mission to create opportunity. Through a program called the Dreamtime Tuka Pathway to Employment, they actively encourage Indigenous people to pursue a career in baking.
“It’s just great to see that idea, that light bulb moment years and years ago, looking at a product that would do something like this,” Herb reflects. “We get to employ Indigenous people and we might get to change their lives.”
John, whom Herb calls “a world-class, passionate baker,” shares a story about one of their long-term employees from Wellington, near Dubbo: “”We get to employ Indigenous people and we get to have a meaningful impact on their life.” For John and Herb, their deep community spirit extends to ensuring their ingredients and services are sourced locally whenever possible.
Next time you see a Dreamtime Tuka cake slice in a Woolworths store, know that you’re not just buying a treat. You’re partaking in a rich cultural tradition, supporting an incredible local business, and helping to share a taste of Australia’s story, one slice at a time.
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