About SWARA
The Sunshine Welfare & Remedial Association (SWARA) is a multi-diagnostic disability centre in Dutton Park in Brisbane. The centre is open every weekday and provides a learning environment that aims to inspire people with disabilities to improve their life skills and enable them to engage more fully in the wider community. Types of activity include; metal work, horticulture, kitchen training, bakery, art & craft, exercise, independent living skills, music and drama. The centre is run on the principles of mutual respect, self help and co-operation where each individual is an active stakeholder. There are currently about 100 people who come to SWARA on a weekly basis, with between 60 and 70 people attending on any given day. Our
SWARA was founded in 1975 by Dorothy O'Brien who worked at the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Centre in Taringa. Dorothy and her twin sister Moyia were among the first occupational therapists in Australia and both came to realise that after initial rehabilitation many people with disabilities found it difficult to access other services and opportunities. To rectify this, Dorothy and Moyia acquired two old worker's cottages and a large area of railway land adjoining what is now Roma Street Parkland from the Railway Department. SWARA was established by the O'Brien sisters, with the support of a host of well wishers and volunteers including family members of people with disabilities, as a centre where those who had been helped within the limits of the then existing facilities, could find stimulation, motivation, companionship, a sense of pride, self respect and an opportunity to contribute to society. SWARA remained at the same location up to 2008 then relocated to the current premises; a former special needs school on Park Road in Woolloongabba.
Today SWARA retains the twins' original ethos in a contemporary setting. We are a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to continue providing the best possible environment for people with a disability to fulfill their potential. We receive support and funding from individual supporters, community groups, the Department of Communities, other grant making bodies, local businesses, and from items made or recycled at SWARA.