Monday, 4 March 2024
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Bujari Gamarruwa

Diyn Babana, Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

In greeting you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of these lands and waterways, I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging. I extend that respect to the Elders of all parts of our State from which you have travelled today.

Well… what a delight it is to welcome you all to Government House. If the saying ‘good things come to those who wait’ is true, given this celebration has twice been postponed, tonight great things are in store.

We believe good things will come of being here together to celebrate a wonderful organisation and the many supporters and benefactors past, present, and future without whom its foundation and continuance would be impossible.

Now, I’ve said ‘organisation’; but that seems a bit corporate for St Lawrence House. Perhaps ‘family’ is more apt.

It is a subtle difference similar to that between ‘house’ and ‘home’.

Undoubtedly, that is why we say ‘homeless’ rather than ‘houseless’. A house is bricks and mortar. A home is a place where someone can belong, be connected, and be given hope.

This is especially the case with children and young people.

It was this recognition, combined with an ethos of compassionate action, that led to the formation of St Laurence House. It is an ethos that continues to this day, and which we celebrate this evening.

The St Laurence House story began in Sydney in the late 1970s. A newly ordained Father Stephen Williams was working in a drop-in centre in Liverpool Street. This brought him into contact with the many young people sleeping rough in and around Darlinghurst and Red Cross.[1] Was it on a whim, or out of a sense of desperation, or both, that one day he brought a young person in off the street and set them up in a back room of Clergy House at Christ Church St Laurence.

Then there were two.

From there, with the assistance of a growing band of parishioners and other volunteers with donations in kind and in service, a house was rented in Redfern. At times, I’m told, there were more than a dozen young people crammed in that tiny terrace with Father Stephen. The stories of those early days – captured in the recollections and reminiscences collected by Nola Lawrence – are stories full of chaos, camaraderie, and a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants spirit of doing whatever could be done to help.

Father Stephen, you drove a cab on Sundays to pay for food, parishioners at Christ Church St Laurence and St James Church King Street pitched in on a Sundays to cover the rent[2], op-shops were established, and it appears there was the occasional dust-up (one time, Father Stephen turned up to church covered in bruises; when asked about it later, he simply said: “Yes, we had adventures”[3]). There were disgruntled neighbours and bad press.[4] But, always, through it all, a growing community of supporters who saw the vital importance of what St Laurence House provided.

As Roselyn Drake – a Director at St Laurence House for many years observed:

For some kids, St Laurence House is the first place they felt was home and they come back for practical, financial, and emotional support when they need it or just to share a few memories. … For some kids, …physical survival seems unlikely … For others, a life of petty crime and being locked up seems inevitable ... There are some individual success stories … but we are not working with series of cases or specific problems. We are involved in the lives of individuals and the success or failure of an individual’s life is not a thing to be measured in a set of abstract criteria.[5]

As times and methods of service delivery changed, so did St Laurence House.

Today, its client-facing team are all highly trained professionals, delivering best-practice trauma-informed care to the children and young people they support, some as young as 13. Crisis accommodation is vital, does attract some funding, but is, of its nature, short-term.

St Laurence House is one of only two medium- to long-term residential support services for young people experiencing, or at risk of homelessness, in Sydney. It provides wrap around, integrated, and individually tailored support plans, giving young people hope that they can fulfil their aspirations and the practical means by which to do so. Funding, however, is more difficult.

Before finishing, I will mention one statistic only, which should make us all draw breath. Last financial year, St Laurence House provided nearly 2,000 safe sleeps to young people.[6]

To the St Laurence House team, to everyone from Father Stephen onwards, what can I say?

Your expertise, compassion, and dedication is life-changing and priceless.

To the supporters and benefactors past, present, and future; without your continued generosity, these vital efforts would be impossible. To put it bluntly; without you there would be no St Laurence House.

To the entire St Laurence House family, for your part in building toward supportive communities in which everyone, no matter their background, disadvantage, or circumstance, has the opportunity to reach their fullest potential and live the life they so richly deserve, 

Thank you.

[1] ‘St Luke’s Patronal Festival’, in Parish Life (Anglican Parish of St Luke Mosman, October 2018, p.1, available here

[2] Rev Stephen Williams, quoted in Jean Bradshaw and Nola Lawrence, ‘Interview with Father Stephen Williams at his Rectory [2008]’, in Nola Lawrence, St Laurence House: A Brief History, St Laurence Press, 2015 [?], p.4.

[3] ibid

[4] See, for instance, the extract from a local paper, in which locals complained of the noise, crime, and treats of violence purported to come from the adjoining terraces on Abercrombie Street that St Lawrence House occupied following the Redfern terrace, reproduced in St James’ Connections, June-July 2021, p.21, available here

[5] Roselyn Drake, former Director, St Laurence House, quoted in Nola Lawrence, St Laurence House: A Brief History, St Laurence Press, 2015 [?], p.22.

[6] Exact number is 1,977: SLH Youth Services Annual Report 2023, p.16, available here