History

The Samaritans had its origins in the UK in 1953. Roused by the suicide of a teenage girl who had no one to turn to, the Reverend Chad Varah, invited people who needed help with their personal problems to receive counselling from him at his church. Many people came and waited patiently in the pews to talk with him. Seeing the number of people queuing up, Chad set up a roster of parish people to provide tea for them while they waited. However, by the time many of the people came to talk with him, he found that they were already feeling reassured and had already worked out ways of managing their problems. Talking to the people who had been providing the tea had been enough. Many of those in distress just needed some one to hear how they where feeling. They didn't always need counseling but I loving ear was enough. These good people had listened sympathetically while those in the pews had talked to them, helping them clarify their problems, and work out how they could manage them.

Perth

“Hello Samaritans…”

The first time this was said over the telephone in WA was 23 July 1967. In response to increasing service demands, a branch was also established in Albany in 1977. The Samaritans has been providing 24 hour telephone access to suicidal and despairing people in WA for over 40 years. Since then over 620, 000 calls have been taken by the Perth branch alone.

In late February 1967, David Woodroffe took the first steps towards launching the Samaritans in Perth. A public meeting was set up at Royal Perth Hospital which managed to attract 150 people, 76 of whom subsequently volunteered. So far so good but there was still no money or premises to operate from.

Within a month two anonymous donations of $300 and $200 were pledged and the then Mental Health Association made an offer of two rent free rooms. The first location was at 311 Bagot Road, Subiaco was the obvious choice as it was convenient for volunteers from all areas in Perth. A working party was established to redecorate the rooms, a telephone was installed and some tables and chairs appeared from somewhere. The service officially began with 25 volunteers, there were not enough to run a 24-hour service but they  managed to cover 4 shifts from 8 am to 10.30 pm. To everyone’s disappointment, the first day produced only one call but by the end of the week they had received 33 calls and by the end of the first month 77 calls. The service was obviously needed and by the end of The Samaritan’s first year 1000 calls were registered. As soon as the first training group was completed another one was undertaken at Trinity Church and upon completion a 24 hour roster was established in September 1968. On 18 June 1969 the Lord Mayor of Perth, Tom Wardle officially opened the Samaritans. By then 1850 calls had been received with an estimated 50 lives saved.

The next major step, ten months later, was the acquisition of a house at 86 Bagot Road. The owner leased it to us for a peppercorn rent. The house was a great asset as it allowed us to set up a second emergency phone and provide interviews for people who needed more personal contact.

Attention was drawn to the fact that 10% of our callers were teenagers so it was suggested that a roster of people nearer their age be established. This resulted in a group of 40 young adults between the ages of 18-25 being recruited and trained to man a separate “Telateen” line. This service was opened on 23 February 1970.

It seemed to meet a need for two or three years before proving to be to expensive in manpower for the relative number of calls received. This freed up the young adult team up to take calls on the main line and some time later a “youthline” was set up to meet young people’s needs and is still providing a good  service today.

The next challenge was faced  in 1973 when we were given notice to leave our current premises because the owner needed it again. The Samaritan directors decided that it would be a good opportunity to move into a larger premise and decided to remain in Subiaco. We managed to procure a house at 60 Bagot road not far from our previous house.