1972 Public concern at the lack of facilities to assist people with an intellectual disability within the City of Wyndham (then the Shire of Werribee) led to the calling of a public meeting by the Shire President. At a meeting on 8 March 1972, a Committee was appointed and was granted registration under the title of Werribee Shire Centre for Mentally Retarded Children (Wyndham School). This Committee began fundraising, lobbying and searching for premises for opening a school to educate children with an intellectual disability in Werribee. Werribee Lions Club was a key influence on the Committee.

1975 In September, the School opened on land provided by Werribee Shire Council on the corner of Ballan and Walls Roads, Werribee. The school was called the Werribee Shire Centre for Mentally Retarded Children but was popularly known as Wyndham School.

1981 The School was taken over by Department of Education and transferred to Hoppers Crossing as the Hoppers Crossing Special Development School. The Werribee Shire Centre for Mentally Retarded Children continued in existence, but shifted its focus to establishing a service for adults with an intellectual disability. At the same time the word “Children” was dropped from the official name of the association.

1982 On 1 March, the Wyndham Adult Training and Support Service opened on the premises of the former Wyndham School and was popularly known as the Wyndham Centre. It opened with two staff and ten participants.

1987 A new building was officially opened on the same site on 15 May 1987 by The Hon John Cain, MP, who was at the time the Premier of Victoria. It was accessed from Walls Road.

1987 The name of the organisation was officially changed to Wyndham Centre for the Intellectually Disabled.

1989-92 During the Labor government administration in this era the Centre was involved the deinstitutionalisation of Caloola, where all of the clients residing there were rehoused throughout the state, and a considerable number commenced with the Wyndham Centre.

1997 The Futures For Young Adults program was initiated in 1997 under the Liberal government of the time. This program was designed to ensure that all 18+ students currently in Special Schools were referred to adult settings. This resulted in a major influx of new clients into the service, and major growth took place as a result.

1997 The first supported employment project in the City of Wyndham was established by the Wyndham Centre, introducing Federal funds. The Mambourin Sensory Garden was commenced on Council-owned land south of the current Werribee site, with sponsorship from service clubs, major companies and philanthropic trusts and using supported employees.

1998 During 1997, the Wyndham Centre was actively involved with the Co-operative in Hobsons Bay to save the old Altona Hospital building. This was successfully achieved and some of the Wyndham clients and staff commenced programs there at the beginning of 1998. Initially there were 22 clients, six staff and the Program Manager. The Department Of Human Services allocated a site adjacent to the Hospital for the purpose of building a new Centre.

1998 It was felt that the Wyndham Centre needed a name change as a result of its rapid growth and to indicate its many subsidiaries and because Shire of Werribee had become City of Wyndham. As the Garden had already been named Mambourin it was decided to use this name to illustrate the „umbrella‟ company. From the end of July, the former Wyndham Centre became known as Mambourin Enterprises Inc.

1998 Garden Biz gained a number of extra clients through Futures for Young Adults and took over the lease of the property in Butler Street Braybrook. Maribyrnong Council decided to withdraw from the service. Mambourin was chosen to take over from the beginning of 1999.

1998 Expansion of supported employment with establishment of a group doing packaging and manufacturing.

1999 Opening of the new building at 130 Queen Street Altona by the Hon Dr Denis Napthine MP on 15 March.

1999 Purchase of former Werribee Park Primary School at 10 Cayleys Road Werribee South. Re-location of both ATSS clients and supported employees to this site.

1999 Mambourin Sensory Garden was completed and opened on 9 April by Senator Kay Patterson.

1999 Took over auspice of „Garden Biz‟ in Braybrook.

2001 Supported employment enclave commenced at RAAF Williams in Laverton.

2003 On 2 May, the Mambourin Café was officially opened by Senator Tsebin Tschen, and opened for business on 15 May.

2004 New packaging facility constructed to house the contract packaging team at the Cayleys Road site in Werribee South.

2004 Garden Biz renamed Mambourin Sunshine (with name Garden Biz retained as the title of the program where horticulture, gardening and landscaping activities take place) and moved to the ex-council nursery site at 50-58 Stanford Street Sunshine.

2005 Ison House and Ison workshops completed.

2008 Extensive redevelopment of Werribee South Site commenced December 2008.

2008 Admin team moved to 4c Pyke Street to make room at Werribee site for Werribee South clients during redevelopment

2009 Completion of Werribee South Redevelopment December 2009.

2009 Official opening of new packaging facility at Market Road Sunshine on 15 December 2009, by the Hon Bill Shorten MP.

2010 At a Special General Meeting held by WestNet on 30 June 2010, the WestNet Members voted to voluntarily wind up and transfer their assets to Mambourin. WestNet and Mambourin commenced as a merged organisation on 1 July 2010.

2010 Mambourin Café ceased trading on 22 December 2010.

2011 The Migrant Hub moved into Recreation Close premises in March 2011. Grand opening was held on 29 March 2011.

WERRIBEE DAY PROGRAMS

In 1972 the Committee of the Werribee Shire Centre for the Mentally Retarded was set up. The first site identified for the school was in Slattery Street Werribee, but this was dropped because of opposition from local residents. Werribee Shire then provided the land in Walls Road at a peppercorn rent. Part of the land had been the Werribee Golf Course which had recently transferred to Werribee Park.

The first school buildings were the original building on the corner of Walls Road and Ballan Road (now administration offices) and the portables. The original address was 39 Ballan Road. The School was taken over by the Education Department in 1980 and subsequently moved to Warringa Drive in Hoppers Crossing and renamed Hoppers Crossing Special Development School (recently renamed Warringa Park Special School)

After the School moved the Ballan Road site and Committee changed to become a service for adults with a disability. This new service opened in the former school buildings in 1982, with the new building in Walls Road opening in 1987. At the same time the name was changed to Wyndham Centre for Intellectually Disabled Adults.

Original numbers were small and growth was slow and steady until the early 1990s when there was an influx of ex-Caloola residents following the closure of that institution. By 1994 there were 60 clients in the Centre, just over half from the Werribee area and the rest from the Altona area.

The next major growth occurred in 1997 with the introduction of the Futures for Young Adults program. In April 1997 thirty-five new clients commenced on the one day and, in a major achievement, were successfully integrated into the service. With expected continued growth in client numbers priority was given to finding alternative accommodation, resulting in the establishment of services in Altona and Werribee South.

ALTONA DAY PROGRAMS

Between 1982 and 1997 a number of clients from Altona began to attend the Wyndham Centre, and by 1997 they made up almost half of client numbers. With the expectation of an influx of school leavers, Wyndham Centre‟s Committee began to look for a site in Hobsons Bay in 1996.

As part of the funding for Futures for Young Adults money was provided for the building of a new facility in Altona. The Government invited expressions of interest and Mambourin was chosen to provide a service from the facility which is wholly owned by the state government. In 1998 a small group of staff and clients moved from Walls Road to Altona and were based in the former Altona Hospital. The new building opened in February 1999 and a large number of Hobsons Bay clients moved from Walls Road.

WERRIBEE SOUTH DAY PROGRAMS

Even with the planned exodus of many clients to the new service in Altona it was obvious that the Walls Road site would not be adequate to cope with growth in both ATSS clients and supported employment at Werribee. DHS was approached about this, but said that no money was available for a new facility in Wyndham. We began looking for an alternative site ourselves and the former Werribee Park Primary School was identified as the best option.

Following lengthy negotiations with the Government we were given the go ahead to purchase the site for $128,000. We moved both the packaging group of supported employees and a group of ATSS clients to the site early in 1999.

SUNSHINE DAY PROGRAMS

Garden Biz was set up by Sunshine Council in the early 1990s. Originally there was only a small group of clients and they operated solely from the nursery site in Pennell Reserve, Braybrook. In 1998 they gained a number of extra clients through Futures for Young Adults and also took over the lease of the property in Butler Street Braybrook. With Council amalgamation, the service had become part of Maribyrnong Council which decided in 1998 to withdraw from the service.

The Department of Human Services supervised an expression of interest process for organisations wishing to take over the operation of Garden Biz and Mambourin was chosen to take over from the beginning of 1999.

Mambourin was never happy with the Butler Street site primarily because of the stairs, and spent considerable time looking for alternative accommodation. Our search was unsuccessful until the ex-Sunshine Nursery site was identified. Negotiations and planning took nearly two years, but the site meets all our existing requirements and provides significant opportunities for future growth and diversification.

AUSTRALIAN DISABILITY ENTERPRISES

Mambourin Sensory Garden

A strategic planning exercise undertaken by Mambourin Enterprises in 1996 highlighted the lack of supported employment programs in the Werribee area. As a result Mambourin‟s employment/business services commenced with the construction of the Mambourin Sensory. This Garden has been built to provide supported employment opportunities for people with a disability and to showcase the ability of the workers involved. Work commenced on 1 May 1997 and the Garden was officially opened to the public on 3 October 1999. As at January 2009, 15 workers and two supervisors work in the Garden, and under supervision, a team of people with a disability are transforming the garden to be drought tolerant using recycled water and water collected from adjacent buildings. All employees enjoy the benefit of full award conditions and are paid productivity based wages.

Recycled Water

Deliveries of recycled water began in 2008 with the purchase of a 14,000 litre Scania tanker for bulk water deliveries. The water recycled water is collected from the Western Treatment Plant and delivered throughout the western suburbs of Melbourne. Tree watering was quickly identified as an opportunity leading to the purchase of a smaller truck with a 2,000 litre tank being ideal for tree watering.

Packaging

Packaging/manufacturing services commenced at the Werribee site in 1998. With the purchase of the former Werribee Park Primary School at 10 Cayleys Road Werribee South, the supported employees involved in these employment services were moved to this site. In 2004 a new packaging facility was constructed to house this contract packaging team at the Cayleys Road site. In 2006 a team of nine supported workers began working at the Abey factory in Melton, In January 2009 this team increased to 10 workers.

Café

On 2 September, 2002 the Mayor of Wyndham, Cr Ian Bunn turned the first sod to mark the commencement of the construction of the Mambourin Café, in the middle of the Mambourin Sensory Garden. On 2 May 2003, the Café was officially opened by Senator Tsebin Tschen, and opened for business on 15 May. The first supported employee started in July 2003. In January 2009 there were 5 supported employees working in the cafe. Saturday February 14 2004 with a temperature peaking at 41oC day saw the first wedding and reception conducted. The marquee was added in 2005 and the veranda extension was completed in 2008.

Mambourin’s Café ceased trading on 22 December 2010.

STEP (Support & Training to Employment Program)

On 16 February 16 2009 five participants began a STEP program conducted at the Werribee South facility. STEP was developed specifically for young adults with disabilities who are interested in developing the skills, confidence and experience needed to successfully secure ongoing employment.

Get-READY (Get-Respect, Empowerment, Achievement & Development for Youth)

The Get-Ready program was launched in October 2010 and is aimed at providing opportunities specifically for young people with disabilities in the crucial post-school transitional period. It will support them to set goals and provide opportunities for them to achieve these.

ALLARA & BRAYBROOK DAY PROGRAMS

WestNet Incorporated was established in 1964 and was known as the Sunshine, Keilor and Districts Branch of the Helping Hand Association.

The need to establish a service that provides support and education to children with a disability was identified by a group of dedicated and committed parents and community volunteers.

The organisation was developed initially to meet the needs of young children and as the service needs changed so did the priorities of WestNet. As the children grew into adolescents and then adults, WestNet continued to expand their service provision to meet the challenges. From humble beginnings to a leading quality service provider our organisation is committed to programs that maximise the rights, dignity, opportunities and independence of those with a disability.

At a Special General Meeting held on 30 June 2010 the Westnet Members supported the resolutions that were put to them, which meant that Westnet and Mambourin immediately commenced as a merged organisation.

A detailed history of WestNet has been put together by long standing members and staff and was formally presented at Mambourin’s 2011 Annual General Meeting.