Aboriginal owned & operated · Australian made
Zero-sugar electrolyte hydration made with Australian native fruit. Eight ingredients, clearly named. Built for people who work, train and sweat in Australian conditions.
Request a sampleWhy it exists
So we kept MERWA simple. No sugar, no artificial sweeteners, no artificial colours, no fillers and no maltodextrin. Just a straightforward electrolyte formula built around Australian pink lake salt, essential minerals and native fruit.
Lemon aspen and desert lime — tart, not perfumed. Sugar-free without the artificial aftertaste. Turn the pack over and every ingredient has a name you recognise.
Lemon aspen from the Queensland rainforest. Desert lime from Yiman country. Kakadu plum from Aboriginal growers in the north. Murray River salt, Australian ocean magnesium.
100% Aboriginal owned, managed and controlled. A father and son, two directors, no silent partners. Purchases count as Aboriginal business spend.
No hype. Just the numbers side by side, so you can see exactly what you're getting.
| MERWA | Sports drink | Coconut water | Imported electrolyte powder | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 0 g | ~36 g | ~11 g | 0 g |
| Sodium | 700 mg | ~230 mg | ~40 mg | ~500 mg |
| Potassium | 250 mg | ~120 mg | ~470 mg | ~200 mg |
| Magnesium | 100 mg | 0 mg | ~25 mg | ~60 mg |
| Sweetener | Stevia leaf | Sugar | Natural sugars | Stevia / synthetic |
| Australian native fruit | Yes — 3 named | No | No | No |
| Aboriginal owned | Yes | No | No | No |
| In short | Sugar-free, eight named ingredients, built for a shift in the heat. | High in sugar, light on electrolytes. | Low sodium for hard, sweaty work. | Solid electrolytes — shipped from overseas. |
Category figures are typical values shown for comparison, not a claim about any specific brand. MERWA figures are per serve.
Straight answers
It's Australian native hydration — built around lemon aspen, desert lime and Kakadu plum, with Murray River salt and Australian ocean magnesium. Sugar-free, eight named ingredients, and 100% Aboriginal owned. Made for people who sweat for a living.
Eight named ingredients: Australian pink lake salt, potassium citrate, Australian magnesium citrate, lemon aspen, Kakadu plum, desert lime, citric acid and stevia leaf. No sugar, no artificial sweeteners, no added colours or flavours, no maltodextrin.
No. The only sweetener is stevia leaf, and we use less of it than the mainstream sugar-free brands. No sugar and no sugar alcohols either.
Real fruit doesn't dissolve clear. A little cloud in the glass is the native fruit powder doing its job — not a fault.
700 mg per serve on the single-serve tier, and 700–1000 mg on the worksite tier. It's set for occupational heat and a full shift, not a gym session.
Samples go out to sites, procurement teams and buyers. Tell us the site and roughly how many people are on it.
Request a sampleThe drink
A sugar-free hydration powder with electrolytes, built around Australian native fruit. Eight ingredients, all of them named — turn the pack over and read every one.
The drink
Sourced from Australia's Murray River region, Murray River salt is a natural mineral salt with a soft pink colour and a clean taste. It's the sodium in the mix — the main electrolyte you lose in sweat — dosed at 700 mg a serve to replace what a shift in the heat draws out.
The second electrolyte in the mix. Potassium works with sodium, and you lose both when you sweat — dosed at 250 mg a serve to sit alongside the 700 mg of sodium.
Magnesium from Australian ocean sources. It's a mineral you draw down through hard work and sweat — MERWA puts 100 mg back per serve.
Native lemon fruit — tart, juicy, the flavour engine. From the Queensland rainforest, it's what makes MERWA taste like fruit, not a supplement.
Native citrus body — the lemon-lime character in the mix. Desert lime grows on Yiman country, Dad's side of the family.
Native wholefood fruit, wild-harvested and bought from Aboriginal growers in the north.
Nutrient content per serve, stated flatly. Mix instruction and sodium per serve vary by tier — see For worksites.
Nothing hidden behind "natural flavours" or a proprietary blend. This is the whole list.
| Ingredient | What it does |
|---|---|
| Australian pink lake salt | Murray River salt — sodium plus trace minerals |
| Potassium citrate | Potassium |
| Australian magnesium citrate | Magnesium, from Australian ocean sources |
| Lemon aspen | Native lemon fruit — tart, juicy, the flavour engine |
| Kakadu plum (wild-harvested) | Native wholefood fruit, from Aboriginal growers |
| Desert lime | Native citrus body — grows on Yiman country |
| Citric acid | Acidity trim |
| Stevia leaf extract | Sweetness — well under the mainstream sugar-free brands |
Ingredient names as they appear on pack. Exact quantities are commercial-in-confidence.
Lemon aspen is fruit acid — tart, juicy, grapefruit-edged and genuinely refreshing. Desert lime carries the lemon-lime character and the Yiman-country story. Together they read as thirst-quenching, not as a lolly.
We'll send a sample stick and the spec sheet. Compare it against whatever's in the crib room now.
Request a sampleFor worksites
Crib-room tub format, scooped into a litre bottle. Sodium set for a shift in the sun — written for a safety officer, not a shopper.
Same flavour base, different salt scoop. Sodium per serve is the spec number — millilitres of water is a label instruction, not a reformulation.
| Tier | Sodium per serve | Mix into | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site / worksite | 700–1000 mg | 750 ml – 1 L | Crib-room bottle, occupational heat, full-shift fluid |
| Single-serve | ~700 mg | 400 ml | One bottle, higher intensity |
| Lighter serve | 300–500 mg | 500 ml | Lower-sweat conditions and general use |
Mine sites won't stock a product without an SDS. Here's what your safety and procurement teams need — sent as PDFs, same day.
Format. Tubs first for crib rooms — scoop and go. Single-serve sticks for kits and sampling.
Pricing. Positioned as a premium against the commodity site incumbents. Volume tiers on the rate card; the value is in what the spend counts toward — see For procurement.
Prequalification. We onboard through the major contractor prequal portals (Avetta, Cm3 and similar) on request — tell us which system your site uses.
Tell us the site and roughly how many people are on it, and we'll send a sample and the spec.
Request a sampleFor procurement
A consumable your team can already report. Here's the entity, the ownership, and how the spend is counted.
Purchases from MERWA constitute Aboriginal business expenditure. Depending on your contract and jurisdiction, that can be reported against:
APIC 1.5% Aboriginal participation when a builder or subcontractor buys for site supply.
NSW APP 3% goods and services under the NSW Aboriginal Procurement Policy.
Commonwealth IPP supplier-use when sold to government.
MERWA PTY LTD (ABN 69 701 348 727) is a 100% Aboriginal owned, managed and controlled Australian business. Purchases from MERWA constitute Aboriginal business expenditure and may be reported under the Commonwealth Indigenous Procurement Policy, the NSW Aboriginal Procurement Policy, and Aboriginal participation frameworks applying to construction contracts. Confirm treatment with your own procurement team.
Capability statement, ABN, insurance and spec — request the pack and we'll reply same day.
Request the packOur country
Yiman country is the brigalow belt of central Queensland — the Dawson River, Taroom. Thunder brings the rain.
Merwa is the Yiman word for thunder. Yiman country is the brigalow belt of central Queensland — the Dawson River, Taroom. Thunder brings the rain. The product comes first; the story is the depth behind it.
Desert lime grows on Yiman country — Dad's side, around Taroom. Kakadu plum is wild-harvested in northern Australia and bought from Aboriginal growers. Lemon aspen is a rainforest fruit from FNQ and the Byron hinterland — not Yiman country, and we don't claim it is. Each plant, its own place.
MERWA is 100% Aboriginal owned — Yiman heritage on Matthew and Riley's side, and Punthamara heritage on Riley's mother's side. Two directors, father and son. No silent partners, no joint venture, no black cladding — ownership, management and control are all genuinely ours.
We speak for our own family and our own business — not for other nations. No dot-painting, no "tribal" graphics as decoration; the name carries the culture, the letterforms don't try to. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the countries our ingredients come from, and pay respect to Elders past and present.
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This is a qualifying form, not a cart. The more you tell us, the faster and better we can reply. Trade, procurement and buyer enquiries only.
Contact
Mines, builders, procurement teams and buyers. Retail and pharmacy enquiries welcome.
MERWA is a trade-first supplier. We work directly with mines, civil and building contractors, subcontractors, government and RAP-corporate procurement teams, and Aboriginal-owned PPE and industrial distributors.
Retail and pharmacy enquiries welcome — if you're a buyer, get in touch and we'll talk category.
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