PERTH, WA: September 5, 1991
Registered by Australia Post P ublication No. WAR 0202
Number 2755
POST ADDRESS: PO Box 50, Northbridge, 6000 W.A. LOCATION: 587 Newcastle Street, Cnr Douglas St (near Loftus St)
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The 'plum' that 'Tom Thumb' pulled • Page 12
PRICE 600
Preserve your heritage
Archbishop Hickey has a chat with Aboriginal children at Culunga Catholic Aboriginal school. Fr Joe Mendrez is on the left.
"Take advantage of what your school offers and preserve your Aboriginal heritage," Archbishop Hickey told the Culunga Catholic Aboriginal school community last Sunday. "It will be your task to try and combine Aboriginal elements from your past and from your family life now with other elements to allow you to take your full and proper place in broader society," he added. The archbishop was celebrating the commencement of Aboriginal and Islander Week with Mass under a bower canopy in the school grounds. Pointing out that he had visited the school during its construction and at the time of its opening, Archbishop Hickey praised the interest and support the parents gave the school. He said the Catholic Education Commission was proud" of what was happening in the school. Referring to his years as bishop of Gera'don, Bishop Hickey said he had seen good and bad things, sad and happy. Among the sad things are how people feel excluded from the mainstream of life, even from the churches. "Let's not dwell on the sad things because they are only too familiar," he said. He told the story of the two-year effort by Geraldton Aboriginal people to form the "Champion Bay Our Land" Association. "I'm glad it happened," he said, describing its literacy courses, arts and crafts activities, soup kitchen for the homeless and family alcoholic rehabilitation program. Although Geraldton diocese would provide them with a hall, the rest of the work was their own, he said. Archbishop Hickey praised the emerging Aboriginal Catholic leadership throughout WA and he said the Culunga school would play an important role in developing that leadership.
That's the Archbishop's message
St Joh goes to Murdoch A new St John of God Hospital at Murdoch will see the phasing out of the St John of God Hospital at Rivervale and the St Joseph's Hospital at Bicton. The St John of God Health Care System has successfully negotiated with the Government of Western Australia to purchase 12 hectares of land at the junction of South Street and Murdoch Drive for the development of a new Health Care complex. Alternative negotiations to lease a similar sized area from the neighbouring Murdoch University have now been suspended.
Mr Tim McDonald, chief executive officer of St John of God Health Care System said that the complex will include a sophisticated 200 bed private hospital facility and a Medical Clinic. Construction will now begin in early 1992 with completion scheduled for January 1994. A wide range of diagnostic and treatment services for inpatients and outpatients, including emergency services will be offered on this site and it is intended that the complex will become the focal point for the health care needs of the community in that area. Education services for staff, doctors and the community
are also planned. The proposal to develop a hospital on this site was submitted to the Health Department in late 1989 by a group of three different religious orders of sister. In addition to the replacement of the Rivervale and Bicton Catholic hospitals operated respectively by the St John of God and St Joseph Sisters, the development of the hospital also involves a transfer of some bed licences from St Anne's Mercy Hospital, Mt Lawley, operated by the Sisters of Mercy. Mr McDonald said all concerned with the establishment and design of the new complex during the
past two years are delighted that the project can now proceed on schedule. The cooperation of the medical fraternity south of the river and of the staff of each of the participating hospitals and those of St John of God Hospital, Subiaco has been substantial to date and all concerned will be greatly encouraged by this development, he said. He said the St John of God Hospital, Murdoch would emulate the commitment to the values and the excellence in health rare that has been firmly established by the Sisters' congregations over the years.