New chapter begins for Lady Lawley Cottage

Australian Red Cross is pleased to confirm disability service provider Rocky Bay has been selected to take over the delivery of services for children with disabilities and their families at the Lady Lawley Cottage site in Cottesloe, Perth.

Red Cross ceased the delivery of disability services at the historic facility in 2020.

Since then, Red Cross has run a codesign-informed process to determine how best the facility could be used for the benefit of children with disabilities and their families and the nature of services that could be sustainably delivered by other providers.

This was guided by a range of interested groups, and included former users of the site, those with lived experience of disability, peak bodies, disability providers, and other interested parties.

Following the codesign-informed process, Red Cross ran an expression of interest process (EOI) to seek a suitable children’s disability service provider, with the facility being provided by Red Cross to the new provider for a nominal lease fee (A$1 per year).

The EOI process resulted in Rocky Bay being selected by the Australian Red Cross Board, and an agreement made.

The agreement involves Rocky Bay providing services for children with disabilities and families for a lease period of 20 years.

“This is a great outcome for children with disabilities, their parents and carers, and the community,” said Australian Red Cross WA Director, Craig Stewart.

“Both parties anticipate that children and their families will be able to access services early in 2023,” he said.

“As owner and custodian of the site, Australian Red Cross’ role from this point is to ensure the legacy and history of the site is recognised and respected in the next chapter of its story,” he said.

Media: media@redcross.org.au, 1800 733 443.