Perth Centenary Celebrations

For 100 years, YWCA in Perth has been supporting the leadership of women, young women and girls in Western Australia. We are marking this special anniversary of YWCA in Western Australia with a special high tea celebration.

We invite members and supporters of YWCA to join us in our celebrations where we will recognise our achievements over the past 100 years and honour the many women who have led and supported the Y movement in Western Australia, while looking forward to a strong and vibrant future.

About YWCA in Perth

YWCA was established in Perth in 1920 after a campaign by concerned local citizens to bring the YWCA movement to Western Australia to address the mind, body and spirit needs of young women locally. Heeding their call, the YWCA of Australia sent Miss Amy Snelson, the National General Secretary, and Miss Winifred Carruthers, to Perth to open a new YWCA office.

Like many YWCAs around the world, YWCA in Perth offered hostel accommodation for YWCA members. Over the years, other wholesome activities were added to the YWCA list of offerings including literary circles, debating, choral groups, hockey, basketball, netball, and the Girl Citizens.

The real purpose of the YWCA in Perth however is best captured in the words of Yvonne Roberts, a YWCA Perth Executive Director in the 1970s: “The YWCA is not an activity or a program, a building or a budget, it is people – a community dedicated to a purpose which pushes them out into the world to find ways to respond to their own and others needs.”

In 2018, YWCA in Perth merged with seven other YWCA member associations across Australia to form one unified national YWCA, YWCA Australia.