This WA organisation has shaped your life – but you might not recognise its name, because it’s had five!
Once known as the City Band of Hope & Temperance League, it then became the WA Alliance, WA Temperance Alliance and Drug ARM WA. Now it’s Hope Community Services, or HOPE for short. A name that comes with an idea: that there are better things to come for those in tough situations.
Still, none of these names tell you just how influential this organisation has been. Every person born in WA since 1904 has been undeniably affected by Hope Community Services.
Advertising has changed a bit over the years …
A launching pad for Edith Cowan
Years before she became the very first Australian woman to be elected to Parliament, Edith Cowan was a member of the WA Alliance. She was elected vice president in 1915 and spent just over a year in that role.
Water or beer? Serving the troops
During WWII, the WA Alliance campaigned argued against the “two cans, per man, per day” rhetoric, funding WA Alliance-funded machines that could dispense cold juice and milk to troops – giving them cold drink options beyond water and beer.
Introducing AA
After hearing about Alcoholics Anonymous – a new US group program that had started in Australia – WA Alliance members travelled to Sydney to learn more. On their return they worked to establish a Perth branch, which hosted its first meeting in April 1947.
From drink-drive culture to random breath tests
Think Before Your Drink will surely ring some bells …
The WA Alliance was among the first to raise concerns on drink-driving. It lobbied the state government to make drink-driving an offence back in 1948 and continued to push for change until 1968, when it officially became an offence in WA. It then spent the 1970s and 1980s arguing for the introduction of on-the-spot breathalysers. Introduced in 1988, random breath tests have become a fixture on WA roads.
Think before you drink …
It’s a familiar phrase – partly because it was the slogan of the then-named WA Temperance Alliance’s 1987 Alcohol Awareness Week campaign. True, the slogan wasn’t original (it was used in US and UK campaigns) but pre-internet, if you were in WA, you heard that slogan from WATA. WATA launched Alcohol Awareness Week in the mid-1980s. Drink-driving was always a focus, but WATA also used the week to highlight other issues such as the dangers of drinking and swimming and the effects of alcohol during pregnancy.
Those Drug ARM vans in Perth’s most high-octane night spots
In the 1990s, the organisation changed its name again. For some of you, the name Drug ARM WA may spark recognition! Drug ARM WA began its Street Outreach program in 1993. Every Friday and Saturday night colourful Street Vans would park up in Armadale, Northbridge, Fremantle and Rockingham. Teams would stay out until 2am, offering information, friendship and support to young people. Eventually it expanded to regional areas, including Kalgoorlie and Albany.
Leavers Week love
Those who left school after 1999 might have spotted Drug ARM WA teams at Leavers Week. Amid the chaos and joy of the celebrations in Dunsborough (and sometimes Rottnest), the team would help young people who needed assistance while sobering up. The team will be at The Zone in Dunsborough for Leavers Week 2024. And while we’re on its work with young people, in 1993 Drug ARM WA began providing overnight care to young people on supervised bail. In the early 2000s it launched the Youth Options Program to help young people build life and work skills, while also addressing high-risk behaviours.
Rehab for the regions
A challenging process was ultimately successful.
For many years, the organisation had considered opening a residential rehabilitation facility. In 2016, after the name change to HOPE, the Hope Springs Community Farm was opened in the Mid West. Now known as Hope Springs Therapeutic Community, this 22-bed long-term residential rehabilitation facility provides adults with a place of calm where they can begin their recovery.
Safe spaces for women
HOPE was one of the driving forces behind WA’s first regional family and domestic violence hub. Mara Pirni Healing Place in Kalgoorlie opened in 2021, providing a safe space for women. Its success let HOPE – this time in partnership with other service providers – successfully open a second hub in Armadale in 2023.
Hope for the future
With 120-plus years behind this organisation, what lies ahead? Fixing a broken youth justice system with a new program that diverts young people from detention? Building a new facility to support people as they withdraw from alcohol and other drugs? Working one-on-one with men who use violence, to change their behaviour? It’s all possible, with a little bit of HOPE.
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