Trustees
COGS of Australia Foundation is administered by the Trustee for the COGS of Australia Foundation Community Joint Venture Mainspring Hybrid Trust. This page introduces the current trustees and board directors.
The Trustee Role
The Trustee for COGS of Australia Foundation holds legal title to all trust property, including CHESS-registered ASX shares. The Trustee does not direct the joint venture. Members do. The Trustee executes valid member directions within defined Trustee Functions.
The Trustee cannot override member governance decisions. No Trustee action can override a 75% Special Resolution of holders of Personal S-NFT individual membership units. No single director can act unilaterally on Members Vault operations. All core vault operations require the cryptographic authorisation of at least three Board Directors (3-of-Board multisignature).
The Trustee's full powers and limitations are defined in the Joint Venture Participation Agreement (JVPA) and the CJVM Hybrid Trust Declaration. For details, see Governance and Transparency and Regulation.
Registered name: The Trustee for COGS of Australia Foundation Community Joint Venture Mainspring Hybrid Trust. ABN: 91 341 497 529. Address: Drake Village Resource Centre, Bruxner Highway, Drake NSW 2469.
Current Trustees and Board
Thomas Cunliffe
Caretaker Trustee & Founder
Thomas Cunliffe is the Caretaker Trustee and Founder of COGS of Australia Foundation. He is a resident of northern New South Wales, living on Wahlubal Country in the Tenterfield Shire.
Thomas delivered The Drake Address at the Lunatic Hotel, Drake Village, on Monday 20 April 2026. That address introduced the Foundation's governing model, the stag hunt coordination problem, and the case for community governance of in-ground mineral resources, to the Drake Village community.
Thomas was born in 1978, in Brisbane. He grew up on Buderim, Sunshine Coast and moved to Brisbane in 1989. He attended Brisbane Grammar School, did a 12-month school exchange programme in France and completed year 12 with an OP 1. He started a Bachelor of Laws and International Business at Griffith University where he co-founded Mumbo Jumbo Magazine. He deferred to a Bachelor of E-Commerce, deferred to a Bachelor of Arts (Ancient History), deferred to a Bachelor of Engineering, deferred to a Diploma of Health (which he completed in 2015 at Griffith College), then proceeded to a Bachelor of Health Science with a double major in Environmental Health and Toxicology.
Thomas worked as State Sales Manager (Adelaide) for Australian Posters in the late 1990s. He was business development manager for Worldwide Bigger Picture Studios on the Gold Coast in 2000. He then co-founded Thirsty Planet Springwater, which evolved into Happy Planet, distributing health products including industrial hempseed and hempseed oil products. This evolved into the introduction of the world's first hermetically sealed cool milling technology for grains and seeds and the construction of a 1.5T/hr patented and organically certified milling facility in Brisbane in 2007. The public company struggled during the financial crisis and was liquidated in early 2009.
In 2018 Thomas co-founded a hempcrete construction business which he ran until 2024.
Thomas moved to a property between Drake Village and Tabulam overlooking the Clarence Valley in 2024, where he lives today in a hempcrete tiny home with his dog (and best mate) Addie.
Additional board directors will be listed here. Contact trustee@cogsaustralia.org for current board information.
Continue reading: Governance: the Trustee model and board oversight. Transparency and Regulation: regulatory position and member governance mechanics.