In 1983, The Cottage opened its doors for the first time in premises at Windsor Street, Richmond. In 1986, The Women’s Cottage moved to its current premises here at 22 Bosworth Street, Richmond. Over the years, the Cottage has grown, along with the population in the Hawkesbury.

There are currently 10 amazing part-time staff as well as wonderful relief workers, students and volunteers that support the work of The Cottage as we strive to provide services and support for women, children, and young people in the Hawkesbury region.

The Women’s Cottage is a community based support and resource centre, run by women, for women (and their children) who live, work or study in the Hawkesbury Local Government Area and its immediate surrounds.

The Women’s Cottage is a feminist organisation that promotes strength based and trauma informed approaches while working within a feminist framework. Women are acknowledged as experts in their own lives. The Women’s Cottage is committed to our role as advocate for social justice, for women and children in this community.

The Women’s Cottage is a place where all women, regardless of age, class, race, religion, or sexual preference, are valued and treated as equal. It is a place for women to nurture themselves, a place of safety, and a place to learn and grow. It is not a place for “one type of woman”, but for all women. It is a place that believes that access and equity are more than ideas and principles, they drive how we operate and what we offer.

It is a place that believes that access and equity are more than ideas and principles; they determine how we operate and what we offer. The Women’s Cottage is an information, resource, referral, and advocacy service for women and children living, working, and /or studying in the Hawkesbury.

The Women’s Cottage is an information, resource, referral, advocacy, and crisis support service for women and children living, working, or studying in the Hawkesbury region. NSW Department of Communities and Justice (formally Family and Community Services) funds our Domestic Violence Support Project, Anti-violence work, ‘drop-in’ support, advocacy, and referral services and up to two group programs under the Targeted Early Intervention (TEI) funding program. All other group programs are self-funded and reliant on past, present (and future) community donations.

The Women’s Cottage also received funding from the Department of Social Services (DSS). This project initially provided support services to women effected by the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It has now evolved into the formation of the National Redress Support Project. This new project provides specialist counselling / casework support to women who are considering making a claim application for Redress. The National Redress Scheme started July 2018 and is set to run for 10 years. This project covers the area from Parramatta to Lithgow but does not turn away out of area requests for assistance. In these situations, we work with women via phone and Skype while connecting them to services closer to where they live and/or on an ongoing basis if local Redress Support Services are not available.

As a Feminist organisation, The Women’s Cottage takes a strength-based and trauma informed approach in all our work. All work is within the context of understanding social inequity and the gendered nature of violence that impacts women’s lives, and through the Feminist framework lens that acknowledges and supports women’s self-determination as the central expert in their own lives.