Mandurah’s long-running Winjan Aboriginal Corporation is urging the wider community to support it as it aims for a new lease on life and place in the community.
The centre has undergone thorough renovations in recent weeks, with a team of workers organised by the Salvation Army’s Work for the Dole program.
Winjan program organiser Shirley Viti said the organisation hoped to turn around its fortunes and reclaim the integral place in the community Winjan had in the 1990’s.
Part of that, Ms Viti hopes, is convincing the community that Winjan is something to be proud of.
“Nearly every month, people have broken in and smashed the place up, and we don't have a lot of furniture, we've only got a few little bits and pieces,” she said.
“The only income we get, unless we're doing courses, is form the Shire, and that's $5,000 a year. And too much of the time that just has to go into repairs or buying more equipment after it's been stolen.”
Ms Viti, along with Frank Nannup and a small team of organisers, have been keeping the centre open, despite little funding and the frequent break-ins.
Now, with the aid of the Salvation Army, Communicare and community members, the centre is being renovated and prepared for what is hoped is a new chapter in the centre’s history.
"The help has let us do so much we haven't been able to do before," Ms Viti said.
“We needed someone to oversee the wole renovation project, and Communicare were able to help with that.”
Both Ms Viti and Mr Nannup are palpably excited about the opporutnities the renovation will bring to Winjan.
"We've had SMILE here before, but we didn't have liability insurance, we couldn't keep holding it. Now that we're renovating the centre, we'll be able to have meetings here,” Ms Viti said.
“A lot of the mothers are just looking for somewhere to relax and have a chat and take the weight of their shoulders for a while. I want to use the two demountables for child care, so we do have something for that."
Communicare supervisor Warren Davis said it was inspiring to see the work that had already been done.
“Even with just a clean-up of the yard, the place already looks better,” he said.
Mr Nannup said the renovation will allow the centre to not only represent Aboriginal culture in the community, but also serve as a meeting place and support network for whoever wants to use it.
It’s an Aboriginal centre, but we don’t want it to be just an Aboriginal centre. It’s a community centre,” he said.
“We want people to know that this place is here for them. we want people to be proud of it.”
Renovations on the Winjan Community Centre are expected to be finished by early 2017.
