Kangaroo Island child care project for Parndana aims to help more regional parents work

Local mums are edging closer to their goal of establishing a childcare centre for families in Kangaroo Island’s west, with the current round-trip of more than 100km too far for many families.

Stephanie Wurst (blonde) with her daughter Charlotte, 3, and Kate Murray with her son Dusty Ness, 8, plan to build a new childcare centre in Parndana, Kangaroo Island, December 15,2020. Picture Simon Cross

Families living on Kangaroo Island’s western end face a round trip of more than 100km to drop their children off at childcare, making work a difficult scenario for many young parents.

But local mums Stephanie Wurst and Kate Murray say their goal of establishing a local centre is edging closer to reality, with plans afoot for a Parndana service costing up to $2m to build.

Kingscote and Penneshaw offer the island’s only childcare.

Ms Wurst and Ms Murray have spent about three years working on a plan to bring childcare to those in the island’s centre and west, and have applied to the Federal Government’s Local Economic Recovery program to fund the project.

“It’s really been quite a big issue with the island’s rebuild and recovery,” said Ms Wurst, whose family lost its home, farm infrastructure and many of their animals in the blazes.

“With so many people being tied up with other things this year there hasn’t been the availability of people to step up (providing care) where they’ve been able to in the past.

“A lot of children have been going with people to work on farms which is not an ideal environment for toddlers and young children. It’s been quite stressful for some families.”

The Government’s funding program was set up to help bushfire-affected communities restore local economies.

“It’s been a long time coming and hopefully this is a positive outcome from a bad situation,” said Ms Wurst.

The island has one of the youngest farming populations in Australia, and research has found about 40 families would use a Parndana centre.

“Most families would travel easily well over 50km each way to drop a child off (at Kingscote) and for us it’s 70km. You can’t do that, go to work, and then go back and do another 70km each way to pick them up,” Ms Wurst said.

She said the new community-managed and not-for-profit service would help the region’s economy grow.

“It’s placed us decades back in terms of women and their roles in the community and workforce. There hasn’t been the opportunity for people to work,” Ms Wurst said.

Ms Murray said the difficulty finding care affected couples’ finances, relationships and mental health.

“In today’s economic times, and with the bushfires, we’ve seen a lot more of the wives going out to work. They’re trying to hold down at least a part time job as well as helping on the farms.”

[e-mail]