Welcome to Queensland's Silver Lining Foundation, a non profit organisation giving young Australians a leg up in life.

The foundation provides solid training and working skills for Aboriginal people in surrounding communities. The organisation is set on a huge property, boasting first class facilities and second-to-none on the job training.

Hospitality management, catering, forestry management, fencing and rural work are among the key industries which the foundation specialise in.

After just over a year running the Foundation has made a change to the lives of some of the committed locals coming through the program and besides top class working skills they now have essential life skills and confidence.

Transcript

KG: We've all heard the old saying, every cloud has a silver lining. Well, that's the case with this next organisation in Queensland. It's providing Indigenous youth with work opportunities, and as video journalist Kris Flanders discovers, it's about building foundations and having a recipe for success.

Mike Giles, General Manager, Silver Lining Foundation: Ideally it's a place where young Indigenous people, ideally from Cherbourg in particular, can come along and just sort of contribute in a genuine way rather than a token way with some training organisations in various ways, where what we're doing here is we're performing genuine tasks and jobs around the area in both fencing, forestry management and particularly hospitality.

Reporter: The Silver Lining Foundation aims to provide local Aboriginal youth with employment experience and life skills.

Mike O'Neill, CEO, Silver Lining Foundation: At the earliest point we wanted young Indigenous people to be proud, independent, self-sufficient people. We hope that we can be a bridge for them. A bridge to help link them from where they are now to working in the wider economy.

Reporter: Co-chair of Reconciliation Australia Jackie Huggins is involved with the foundation.

Jackie Huggins, Board of Directors Silver Lining Foundation: With employment comes a whole host of things like self confidence, the way you feel about yourself, the way that you're able to help your families, all of that.

Reporter: The Silver Lining Foundation is located on a 223-hectare property near Wondai and the Aboriginal community of Cherbourg. The traditional owners have named the property Bahun Jal Mono, meaning 'place for people of tomorrow'. Cherbourg man Troy Fisher was working on the Community Development Employment Program before discovering the Silver Lining Foundation.

Troy Fisher, Assistant Supervisor, Fencing Operations: I do farm fencing, fence for cattle and that there and just put the holes in the fences, put up big post and that there, put a bit of wire and that. Yeah, there's going to be a camping ground here and we just got to fence it off to keep the cattle out and plus they're doing a bit of revegetation down there.

Mike Giles: He's been a real find for us, because he's really solid and reliable and just I've noticed the last couple of weeks he's really started to take ownership of his role.

Troy Fisher: Supervisor has taught me a lot here since I come here. Taught me how to drive a truck, a bulldozer and that. And just some other skills so that I won't get hurt or nothing. The things I've been doing here I never thought I'd be doing.

Reporter: The hospitality side of the Silver Lining Foundation has gone above and beyond all expectations and the catering team will be kept busy this year.

Mike Giles: We've done quite a few functions last year to get some exposure, but at this point in time we've got six weddings booked for this year plus another couple of major events, one of which is a black-tie dinner for 350.

Reporter: Hoping to build on its reputation, people like Christine Bond play a leading role in the kitchen.

Christine Bond, Hospitality Team Member: When I have functions I'm working the kitchen, I cook, I help cook, and I help serve and mostly cleaning and all that that comes with kitchen. I enjoy it, actually. It brought me out of my shell a bit, a lot actually.

Reporter: This year the foundation will set up a nursery, focusing on growing seedlings for Queensland's timber power poles.

Mike Giles: Not only are we exceeding people's expectations, we're going way beyond, so it sort of sets up for a spectacular result there. You got those stereotypes are being busted. That's driving the pride here in some of these guys because there's no token pats on the back here, it's all earned.

Reporter: The Silver Lining Foundation has some simple advice for others in the community.

Troy Fisher: Just come over and just try working here, you might like it. You might learn a few things, yeah. Fill your confidence up a bit from coming here. Just try it out, eh.

Christine Bond: They get a fright when they know that I'm working here. So there's a lot who are coming here looking for jobs now, because they see that there's other Aborigines already working here.

Mike Giles: If you've got that confidence in yourself and you've got that training and you've done a couple of good jobs, whether that's a function for 350 or built 10km of fencing really, really well, then there's no reason why you can't go and tackle the greater society.