History
Extract from "Rocky Bay : A Short History 1938 - 2000" compiled by Beth Evans.
The Perth Rotary Club played a crucial role in the formation of the Western Australian Society of Crippled Children (later Rocky Bay Incorporated). A special committee was formed on 11 June 1934 to oversee the organisation of the forthcoming Titania's Palace Exhibition which was intended to raise funds to benefit crippled children in Western Australia. Rotary's interest in this matter appears to have been spurred not only by the local situation but also by the example set by American Rotary clubs in establishing support services for disabled children.
'Titania's Palace' was the name given to an intricately constructed edifice created by British peer Sir Neville Wilkinson as a dwelling place for the fairies of his small daughter's imagination. The Palace, which included 4,000 pieces of miniature furniture and featured botanical specimens realistically moulded in brass, had raised £50,000 for crippled children throughout Australia since first loaned for exhibition by Sir Neville.
The Perth exhibition of Titania's Palace was opened by Lieutenant-Governor Sir James Mitchell on 4 April 1935, and attended by a crowd of 21,089 people. Sir James and Lady Mitchell were said to be impressed by the beauty of the palace architecture and the many exquisite treasures contained in the fairy dwelling. Viewing of the Lilliputian residence was facilitated by its design: sixteen glass-enclosed rooms facing a central courtyard into which delighted visitors of all ages could peer to admire Sir Neville's artistry.
A total of £1,520 was raised by the exhibition. Advice was sought from Eastern States Rotary Clubs regarding their use of these funds, and on 7 July 1935 Hotchin reported on a proposed Crippled Children's Association. Further interest in the matter was stimulated by an address by President S.H. Lamb of Fremantle Rotary on 1 May 1936 entitled 'Crippled Children's Work In Rotary'. Discussions held during the next six months led to a proposal for a Crippled Children's Home to which the Titania's Palace funds would be allocated.
Following a meeting between Rotarians Rowe and Jacoby on 17 November 1936 Mr Rowe reported on 2 February 1937 that Mr Jacoby had persuaded him that since insufficient funds existed to establish the Crippled Children's Home, nothing more should be done at that time. It was decided in the meantime to ask Perth Rotary's Community Service Committee to plan a meeting of interested persons to discuss the possibility of forming a Crippled Children's Society.
By mid-July 1937 Rotarian McGibbon had written to Jacoby outlining some ideas for the anticipated meeting. On 8 August 1937 Mr McGibbon reported that a Crippled Children's Association had been formed with Messrs Hotchin and Jacoby and Dr McKellar-Hall appointed as a subcommittee to draft its by-laws. The Titania's Palace Trust Fund was placed in a fixed deposit trust account in October 1937. The amount by this time had been reduced to £787 14s 9d.
Perth Rotary reports that:
In early December that year Rotarians Fethers, Ellis and Joyner formed a subcommittee to talk to Jacoby about the progress of the Crippled Children's Society. A letter was sent to Mr Jacoby by this subcommittee on 18 January 1938, with the result that a meeting was held on 20 April 1938 with Rotarians Perry, Bickford, Isaachsen, McGibbon, Hotchin, Law and Jacoby present, as well as several Fremantle Rotary representatives.
This meeting reaffirmed the delegates' commitment to the welfare of Western Australia's young disabled, and is regarded as the official beginning of the Western Australian Society for Crippled Children. By 16 August 1938 the Titania's Palace Trust Fund had been placed in an E.S.&A. trust account for three months. A Constitution for the WASCC was drafted on 26 August 1938 and copies sent to Perth Rotary members on 6 September 1938.
The drafting of the WASCC Constitution followed a report in The West Australian that the Children's Hospital was struggling to deal with the extra workload brought upon it by the absence of a separate support service for disabled children. The report states:
Although the WASCC's Constitution was intended to distinguish it from the Perth Children's Hospital (later Princess Margaret Hospital), several concerned Rotarians protested that the Society was still controlled by the Hospital Board. Controversy arose in November 1938 regarding the use of the Nuffield Gift, a donation of £5,000 by Lord Nuffield, the British motor manufacturing magnate, to the Children's Hospital, which Rotarian Joyner said should rightfully be given to the WASCC and used with the Titania's Palace Trust Fund to build a seaside home for crippled children.
Suggestions that the Trust Fund should be given to the Hospital Board were also regarded suspiciously. A Rotary subcommittee consisting of Messrs Perry, McGibbon and Joyner met Arthur Jacoby (President of both the Children's Hospital Board and the WASCC) to clarify the Hospital's position, with Mr Joyner reporting on 9 March 1939 that Mr Jacoby had guaranteed the subcommittee that the money from the Titania's Palace Trust Fund, if handed over to the Hospital, would be put toward the establishment of a convalescent home for crippled children and that the Nuffield Gift 'could only be used for the same purpose'. The Children's Hospital Minutes of 26 May 1939 also make it clear that the WASCC expected money given in trust to the hospital board was 'to be available as soon as plans for a new convalescent home are advanced sufficiently to take over the Nuffield Gift as outlined in the Director-General of Health's letter of 19 September 1935'.
The Titania's Palace Trust Fund was apparently donated to the Children's Hospital on 30 June 1939. However, despite Jacoby's assurances that the Nuffield Gift was earmarked for the purchase of a home for crippled children, this money was eventually used to buy an iron lung for the Children's Hospital. At the Annual General Meeting of the Children's Hospital Subscribers, the President of the Hospital, R O Law, stated that no further advance in the establishment of a home for crippled children had been possible, owing to insufficient funds being available to provide for its capital cost. Law praised the work of the WASCC in helping the hospital to gather details regarding the number and condition of crippled children in the state, and mentioned the possibility of an orthopaedic ward being built at the hospital in the near future.
The onset of World War II in September 1939 meant that the WASCC made very little progress during the next six years. It was not until November 1945 that the Society 'commenced life again with a kitchen table as an office desk as well as space loaned in an office in the Liquor Trade Council building in Murray Street'. At that stage there were 185 children registered with the Society and £2,554 in its bank account. This arrangement continued until July 1946 when an office was acquired in the WA Trustee Building in Perth. Meanwhile, two play centres for spastic children were established in the homes of mothers Mrs Mitchell of Victoria Park and Mrs Smith of Claremont.
Twelve months after moving its operations to the WA Trustee office, the WASCC undertook its most significant initiative thus far, the setting up of a play centre in the lower portion of the McGibbon Pavilion at the Royal King's Park Tennis Club. This space was loaned to the WASCC by the management of the tennis club. The new centre opened each weekday between 10 am and 3 pm, and was staffed by Red Cross and other volunteers.
This arrangement was particularly appropriate as the pavilion was named for one of the members of Perth Rotary who had been so influential in establishing the WASCC, Sinclair James McGibbon, second President of the Perth Rotary Club (1927-1928) and first Western Australian Rotary Governor (1932-1933) became a prominent Perth chartered accountant after moving to Western Australia from Victoria in 1904. Besides being active in Rotary, Mr McGibbon was an Australian Wheat Commissioner, a member of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, President of the Western Australian Lawn Tennis Association (1925-1938) and later of the Royal King's Park Tennis Club (1938-1939). Future Australian Prime Minister R. G. Menzies was a pallbearer at his funeral in 1943.
Prior to 1950 no special provision was made for the education of children with disabilities. They were expected to either attend normal classes or, if too severely incapacitated, to learn by correspondence and receive intermittent visits from their teachers. This unsatisfactory situation meant that many children with disabilities received insufficient and inappropriate instruction. The King's Park Centre, though not a school, made a positive contribution to the well-being of these children by providing them not only with congenial pursuits and a modicum of education, but also some badly needed social training. Due to their circumstances, many children with disabilities tended to remain too heavily reliant on their parents, and did not mature mentally.
In January 1950 the WASCC purchased a house in West Perth on the corner of Ventnor Avenue and Hay Street, using funds raised by street appeals, subscriptions and private donations to cover its £8,500 cost. A Centre for Spastic and Physically Handicapped Children was subsequently opened in this building with an attendance of twenty-three children. Seventeen children, enrolled at the King's Park Centre in 1949, were transferred in February 1950 to the Sir James Mitchell School in Thomas Street, which had opened to cater to the educational needs of disabled children. The WASCC remained in touch with these youngsters, continuing to arrange hospital and dental visits for them and to provide other support as required.
The number of children at the West Perth Centre swelled rapidly to thirty-three. Children considered too mentally deficient were barred from attendance and were instead placed in special school classes by the Education Department. The new premises were obviously a matter of great pride to the WASCC:
The WASCC had broadened its care network in May 1949 with the opening of the Bunbury Centre for Spastic and Physically Handicapped Children. This centre was the only one of its kind in the south-west of the state, providing regular care for seven children. Transport in this case was supplied by the Bunbury Rotary Club. The parents and volunteers concerned gathered toys and equipment. The helpers lacked professional training but managed to work successfully from a syllabus compiled by the WASCC. The Bunbury Centre was closed in 1954 and its equipment divided between the WASCC and the Spastic Welfare Association (established in 1950 by a group of parents of children with cerebral palsy).
From the outset of its formation the WASCC took its responsibilities seriously. Work during its first six years was hindered by an absence of paid staff and a shortage of volunteers, besides being impeded by the general circumstances of war, but following the acquisition of office space in the Liquor Trades Council building in 1945, WASCC secretary Miss Jean Lang travelled to the eastern states to observe the methods employed by crippled children's societies there. Letters were also sent to such overseas agencies as the International Society for the Welfare of Cripples, the British Central Council for the Care of Crippled Children and the United States National Society for Crippled Children seeking their advice.
Support services during the 1940s included the Child Welfare Department, the Commonwealth Social Service Department, the Perth and Children's Hospitals and the Red Cross-operated Lady Lawley Cottage in Cottesloe. The Lady Lawley Cottage was used by military authorities between 1942 and 1944 as an emergency treatment centre. The Red Cross resumed responsibility for the cottage after the war. The Red Cross also assisted with metropolitan transport. Transport to and from country centres was provided by MacRobertson Miller Airlines and Airlines WA Ltd. The functions of the WA Society, as outlined in its 1948 Annual Report, were;
During these early years the State Government was frequently criticised for its lack of concern for physically disabled people. It was claimed that 'huge areas of land' and 'enormous buildings' were put to use for the mentally unstable, and 'vast sums' spent on their care, but for the physically deficient obstructive legislation was a ban to rehabilitation. The law that forbade invalid pensioners to earn more than a few shillings a week, thus preventing them from acquiring a trade or other occupation, was most bitterly reviled.
The seaside convalescent home that had been envisaged by the WASCC in the 1930s became a reality in late 1950 when a bequest from Mrs Lucy Creeth put at its disposal a house overlooking the beach at Mosman Park. The main contents of the house, plus a car and investments worth £15,000 were included in the bequest. This generous windfall was most gratefully received by the WASCC, but the society was still hampered by a worldwide shortage of physio, speech and occupational therapists to assist the 560 children now registered.
Mrs Creeth, a talented artist, was active in the Cottesloe Women's Service Guild, for many years its assistant librarian. In her later years she suffered badly from arthritis and was confined to a wheelchair. It has been said that she had originally planned to leave her house and money to relatives in England, but changed her mind when the lady caring for her suggested she look after some organisation that really needed help, such as the Crippled Children's Society.
Renovations and alterations to the house, which was situated on the corner of Salvado Road and Avonmore Terrace in Mosman Park, were not completed for some time. The upgrading of the building was done by Perth Apex, and a wading pool was donated by the YMCA. The WASCC planned to use this property as a live-in centre for country children. It would also provide temporary accommodation for metropolitan children whose parents were ill or otherwise in need of some respite from the demands of caring for their physically impaired offspring.
The WASCC moved to Avonmore Terrace in January 1953. A school for children with disabilities was opened in the building the following month. Vacant land at the back of the Creeth residence was used to build a thirty-bed hospital designed by Summerhayes and Associates. The sale of the West Perth property, a government donation of £8,350, and a grant from the Lotteries Commission helped to meet the £25,000 cost of the hospital. It was originally intended that children up to fourteen years of age would be accepted by the hospital, and allowed for a maximum of six months, after which their cases would be reviewed if necessary. This stipulation was obviously abandoned, however, as the Lucy Creeth Centre became involved with the treatment of muscular dystrophy in the 1960s.
The Lucy Creeth Hospital opened on 1 May 1955 with Sir Charles and Lady Gairdner officiating and 350 people in attendance. A selection of the children's handicrafts was displayed throughout the new building, which was praised for its modern design and unusual colour scheme. Renovations and extensions subsequently made to the old house provided accommodation for the hospital's Matron, Mrs A H Burns, as well as a handicraft room, an Oslo kitchen, change room, toilet block, laundry and garage workshop.
Further extensions, completed by 1956, produced a kindergarten, an office and rooms for occupational therapy and physiotherapy. A £12,000 bequest from the A Y Glyde Estate, and the sale of a house in Albany left to the Society by a Mr Barrett, put it in a good financial position to pay for these additions, and for a hydrotherapy pool built at the Lucy Creeth Hospital in 1957.
The Lotteries Commission donated £5,610 to the WASCC in 1961 to help towards the building of a new schoolroom, to be used in conjunction with the three rooms in the Creeth house already serving this purpose. The school, Yaringa (Aboriginal for 'by the sea') was opened in 1963 with Mr W Robinson appointed as its first teacher. Singing, play-acting and puppet-making were made part of the school curriculum, while Friday sports included darts, skittles and croquet, modified to suit the needs of the eighteen male pupils. The Reverend Canon Walsh visited the school once a week to give the children religious instruction. Arrangements were later made between Mr Robinson's successor, Mr Les Brown, and the Reverend Brian MacDonald, for the Yaringa pupils to attend St Luke's Church in Cottesloe at Easter and Christmas.
The alterations and additions to the house proved temporarily adequate, but by 1966 a lack of space was being noted in all departments, particularly the school. The WASCC Council estimated that an additional six acres was required to ensure sufficient playing space, and to allow enlargements to be made to the physiotherapy and occupational therapy departments and to the school and hospital. In 1967 the WASCC purchased a property in Salvado Road, adjacent the eastern boundary of the Avonmore Terrace site, planning to develop it to meet the Society's requirements.
The Minister for Health, Mr MacKinnon, opened the new administration and treatment block on 1 July 1970. The 350 people attending the opening ceremony included many former volunteers and benefactors of the Society. The top floor of the three-storey building was reserved for Yaringa School. The first floor was occupied by the Occupational Therapy Department, administration and Matron's office and the ground floor by the Physiotherapy Department, which now boasted a hydrotherapy pool twice the size of the previous one. Accommodation was provided for the Matron, Secretary and clerical assistants on the ground floor.
The transfer of departments to the new centre made space available in the Avonmore Terrace property for adult and adolescent accommodation, three rooms of which were to be used to house an increased number of young female clients now registered with the WASCC. One of the rooms in the old building was set aside as a music room, one became a dining room and another was converted into a kindergarten. The remainder of the old building was taken over by the hospital, giving it a forty-two bed capacity. The opening of the centre in Salvado Road overcame the space shortage temporarily, but it would not be fully addressed until the move to Rocky Bay in 1979.
The organisation takes its name from its geographical location. Rocky Bay encompasses the lower reaches of the Swan River. The McCabe Street site was granted to the WASCC by the State Government in 1978. Funds for building were provided by the Commonwealth Government, the Lotteries Commission, STW Channel 9 Appealathon and public donations.
The Society's change of name to Rocky Bay Incorporated reflects the changing image of people with disabilities in modern society.
