For more than 15 years, Kennelly Constructions has built a reputation for delivering quality projects while creating opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
That commitment has been recognised with the inaugural Sunshine Coast NAIDOC Blak Business Award, celebrating an Aboriginal-owned and led business that has combined commercial success with an investment in First Nations employment, enterprise and community.
Established on the Sunshine Coast in 2010, Kennelly Constructions has grown into a nationally recognised contractor delivering defence, civil and commercial projects across Australia. Led by proud Bundjalung brothers Shane and Adam Kennelly, the business has remained grounded in the values that shaped its beginnings.
For Shane, the company's Managing Director, the recognition carries particular significance because it comes from his own community.
"As a proud Bundjalung man, being recognised by your own community during NAIDOC Week carries a weight that no industry award can match," Mr Kennelly said.
"It is recognition of the whole journey, not just mine but my brother Adam's, our families', and every person who has worked alongside us since we started the business."
Mr Kennelly believes the award also reflects the growing strength of Aboriginal enterprise across the Sunshine Coast.
"The fact that this region now has its own Blak Business Award, and that there were strong businesses worthy of it, tells you the Blak business sector here has come of age," he said.
"Every one of our successes opens the door a little wider for the next business coming through."
The business has remained anchored by the same values since day one.
"Do what you say you will do, look after your people and never forget where you come from," Mr Kennelly said.
"Our culture is not a marketing line. It is who we are. Commercial success and cultural responsibility are not competing priorities for us. They belong side by side."
Those values are reflected in the company's commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment, apprenticeships, subcontracting opportunities and supplier diversity. Together with sister businesses First People Recruitment Solutions and Indigenous Employment, Kennelly Constructions has helped create pathways into long-term careers while supporting Indigenous-owned businesses to grow.
For Mr Kennelly, that work is ultimately about strengthening communities through economic participation.
"Economic empowerment is self-determination in practice. A job changes a life, a career changes a family and a business changes a community," he said.
Beyond the workplace, the company has also invested in initiatives that strengthen community connections, including helping establish the Sunshine Coast Indigenous Rugby Round, which has grown into a region-wide celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
"Blak businesses are built on the strength of community, so it is only right that success flows back," Mr Kennelly said.
"If we are only winning contracts and not lifting the community with us, then we are missing the point of being in business at all."
Looking ahead, he hopes more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people see business ownership as an achievable pathway.
"The doors are open now in a way they never were for those who came before us. Walk through them and, when you are through, hold them open for the ones coming behind you."
The inaugural Sunshine Coast NAIDOC Blak Business Award recognises a business that has grown without losing sight of its purpose. Through steady leadership, strong relationships and a commitment to creating opportunities for others, Kennelly Constructions has demonstrated that culture and commerce can grow together.
Its success also reflects a broader movement taking place across Australia. Every thriving Blak business creates opportunities for the next generation, strengthening local economies, supporting communities and reinforcing that self-determination is strengthened through enterprise, employment and shared prosperity.
