History
Jessie Brown, a feisty and visionary woman, who inherited property from her late husband James, established the Trust in 1892.
She set it up in memory of James with the aim of providing services for people in need.
The main focus during the first fifty years was the alleviation of suffering amongst tuberculosis patients and crippled children. Over time general improvement in health standards has seen the impact of diseases like TB and Polio eradicated and the shift in emphasis of the Trust has been towards care of the aged and disadvantaged.
Much of the charitable work of recent times has been centred around our affordable housing; modern, sustainably designed housing for simple low cost living, enabling people to step out of risk of homelessness, supported by agencies into a more secure future.
Having said that, all the Trust’s services aim to enable people to live in a supportive community and enjoy life, whatever their needs or financial status may be and our not-for-profit status allows us to reinvest in the Trust, not be required to pay dividends to shareholders. Wise, experienced strategic leadership by the Board of Trustees to meet Jessie’s vision in the James Brown Memorial Trust Act ensures we will be here serving those in need for another 130 years.
Acknowledgment and Commitment
A first principle of healing is to promote truth and create an understanding of colonisation and the trauma legacy.
As an organisation of 130 years our early history includes confronting violence of colonisation. In 1849, James Brown, husband of our benefactress, Jessie Brown, was charged under the Aboriginal Protection Act for the murder of nine Aboriginal people, an elderly man, three woman, two teenage girls and three female children.
Here at Kalyra we are deeply sorry this act of violence happened and for the trauma and grief resulting. Sorry seems a small word for such a terrible act and yet we know the recognition of our full history and its impact is a powerful step to healing. The impact of colonisation and the Frontier Wars in Australia has lead to devastating intergenerational grief and loss that requires continued effort
towards reconciliation.
Today we acknowledge the facts recorded and recognise this tragic piece of our history. By doing so we seek to support reconciliation and contribute to a balanced Australian history that includes the violent and confronting
facts of colonisation as well as the long preceding history of the Aboriginal peoples of this land.