Our Story
NyikBar is the coming together of two First Nations - Nyikina and Bard.
Charles and Linton, the owners of NyikBar, are cousins who were both born on Nyikina country, one of the many language groups in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. They grew up in the remote Kimberley town, Derby, knowing their cultural identity, before going to Perth for high school and university.
Charles’ father is of Nyikina and Chinese descent.
Charles and Linton’s mothers are Bardi women, and their maternal grandfather, Doug D’Antoine, was born on Bardi country and is of Bardi/Jawi decent. Doug was married to Laurelle, who was born on Kunmunya Mission, an extremely remote location - 200km north of Derby as the crow flies. Their maternal great grandparents came from Mapoon Mission, on the coast of Cape York Peninsula. Linton and Charles are equally proud of their Torres Strait Islander heritage.
Charles Prouse
Charles is a Nyikina man from the Kimberley, Western Australia, and has lived in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. Charles has over 20 years' experience in Indigenous affairs across Australia. He holds a Master of Public Administration from the prestigious Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University (USA) and a Bachelor of Science, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from the University of Western Australia (UWA).
Charles was the Global Supplier Diversity Manager at Lendlease, leading their First Nations supplier procurement program and the development of a global supplier diversity process and reporting framework. Prior to that, Charles was CEO of Supply Nation, implementing its corporate membership fee business model and worked with the Australian Government to introduce its inaugural Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP).
His other roles have included CEO of the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy (NASCA) and manager of the New South Wales Indigenous Employment Program with Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).
Charles is proud of his early work at the Kimberley Land Council and Native Title Services Victoria to promote Caring for Country programs and was involved in the early establishment of the national Indigenous Ranger network. He started his career at the Western Australia Department of Aboriginal Affairs, mapping cultural heritage sites across the state.
Charles is a board member of the Aurora Education Foundation and The Benevolent Society,
Linton Wright
Linton is a Bardi man raised in the Kimberley town of Derby. Linton went to high school in Perth and holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Western Australia (UWA) and a Master of Business Administration from La Trobe University.
After completing university he entered the construction industry working on projects in every State and Territory of Australia and Papua New Guinea. Rising from Field Engineer to Project Manager, he has more than twenty years experience delivering lump sum design and construct projects from the contractor side in the oil, chemical and water resources industries. This experience covers all stages of a project - from tendering, contract negotiation, the multiple facets of delivery and commissioning.
Project scopes have included civil, mechanical, structural, pressure piping, electrical and instrumentation and coatings. Bulk storage tank experience includes API653 tank maintenance, API650 tank construction and AWWA-D100 water tank construction projects.
Linton has worked with clients including ExxonMobil, BP, Caltex/Ampol, Shell/Viva, Orica, Yarra Valley Water, Western Water, Barwon Water, Apache Energy, BHP and Rio Tinto.