The South West Aboriginal Medical Service has announced plans to transform Jaycee Park into a precinct for a purpose-built health campus.
SWAMS chief executive Lesley Nelson said it had become clear they no longer had the capacity to meet the needs of the region’s Indigenous community.
“For 20 years, our health service has lacked a permanent location – it’s time we found a place to call home,” she said.
“This will be a significant, innovative and holistic community facility that will bring transformational change to the health and wellbeing of the Noongar people of Bunbury and the South West.
“It is also an opportunity for the location to become a vibrant precinct in its own right, an all-encompassing, multi-faceted development that brings tourism, culture, recreation, economic benefit and research to Bunbury.”
SWAMS is working with the City of Bunbury for the project, with the city currently in the process of acquiring the land in Carey Park from the state government.
Once secured, it will be transferred to SWAMS to developing the hub, subject to formal council endorsement.
The proposed two-storey building will house clinical and research facilities, offices, community rooms and a bush tucker café.
Plans also include recreational spaces, a children’s playground, landscaped gardens and toilet facilities.
City of Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan said the initiative would result in more health benefits for the region’s Indigenous community.
A meet and greet will be held on Friday, 9 November, from 4pm at Jaycee Park for the community to learn more and ask questions.
