Record
Perth: December 7 2000 Price: S1
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itinnies to m I I HQ to larger building Cramped office space and a severe shortage of parking are just two of the problems that have forced the Society of St Vincent De Paul to move its headquarters from East Perth to Belmont. The Society, the State's largest charitable organisation, has purchased new headquarters at 76 Abernethy Road in Behnont, SVP State President Brian Bull told The Record last Thursday. The move is expected to be completed by the beginning of February. Nor is the transfer expected to cost the Society, Mr Bull said. With a cost of $1.12 million for the new building, and expected revenue from the sale of the present headquarters somewhere in the vicinity of $1.5 million, the transfer should be costneutral. "You've only got to walk around this place to see that it is inadequate for our needs," said Mr Bull, a former WA Commissioner of Police. The two-storey building in Bronte Street has been in use as the Society's headquarters for the last six years. Bronte House, the current site, was originally built by voltmteers in the late 1940s as an overnight shelter for alcoholics and derelicts. Mr Bull recalled that, as a newly-graduated policeman in 1953, he would bring homeless drunks for overnight acconunodation to the building as part of his normal duties. "On van-patrol we regularly used to pick them up in parks and bring them here," he said.
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WA's only Catholic weekly newspaper
Catholic education says farewell to Bishop Healy
By Peter Rosengren
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Mr Bull said the current premises had long ago lost their usefulness; on several occasions the upstairs floors had been fiddled with white ants. Another major problem was that a building with stairs had proved to be a big problem for elderly volunteers forced to walk up and down the stairs many times each II 11 are cramped, with even day. the men's toilets being partially used as storage facilities. Working areas are more like compartments than offices. The new single-storey Abernethy Road headquarters is considerably younger. larger and has 53 parlcing spots. The new building is in "excellent" condition, has been repainted and re-laid with new carpet. "We're very fortanate to get a building so close to our needs," he said. Mr Bull said the Society had consulted with members on the need for new premises. "And with rare exception they said `go for it'," he said, adding, "Even some of the original builders [of the Bronte Street building] said 'progress is progress'." Mr Bull said the Society has approximately 4,000 volunteers in WA who are constantly visiting the organ tion's headquarters for meetings and Sodety-related Brian Bull last WOOk work.
Disabled couple Future represent Perth priests speak in Rome - Page 3
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Reconciliation wins at Perth bridge walk
Perth's Catholic Social Justice Commission supporters, top, and St Brigid's, Lesmurdie, students, left, get ready for last Sunday's historic walk over the Narrow's bridge in support of reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Austrrlians. Many individual Catholics and representatives from Catholic groups were among the thousands of people who turned out for the Reconciliation Walk in Perth last Sunday to add their support to the push for reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia. Perth Awdliary Bishop Robert Healy represented Archbishop Barry Hickey. Aboriginal Ben Taylor, also a member of the Catholic Aboriginal Ministry, welcomed the vast crowd in his indigenous language to Nyoongar land on the eastern bank of the Swan River. And Cathislic schools were also represented, including among many others the pipes and drums of 'niftily College in East Perth and St Brigid's College in Lesmur-
The 'Beyond the Bridge' walk represented the WA effort among walks for commitment, unity and hope in reconciliation
that have been talcing place across the nation during 2000. And although the occasion was a serious one, the atmosphere was festive as brightly-coloured banners predominated together with performers strung out at various intervals along the march. The crowd, estimated later at approximately between 40-50,000 people, gathered at McCalltun Park on the far side of the Perth Causeway. After an initial welcome gathering, police then blocked off the Perth-botmd lanes of traffic along Albany Highway as the thousands of people of a types and backgrounds, with many caming personal or organisational banners calling for advances in reconciliation, surged towards the Supreme Court Gardens in the city for a concert. - Peter Rosengren
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