Poignant celebrations mark four decades of service to Illawarra women
A milestone for women's health in the region coincided with the leaving of a leader who had inspired many over 12 years
It was a night of great joy, celebrating 40 years of the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, but it was also tinged with sadness.
The Novotel at North Wollongong was packed on Friday night for the gala event; raising valuable funds to help support the centre, a 40th anniversary presentation from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and an emotional farewell to outgoing executive director Sally Stevenson AM.
There were toasts for the centre’s incredible success in an area with so many challenges, and for Sally after 12 years leading her dedicated team, often against the odds and usually with major funding challenges.
In her farewell speech, the former Wollongong Citizen of the Year, recognised in 2024 for her strong advocacy on behalf of the region’s women, praised those who established the centre in 1986.
“They were collaborative, fierce, generous and unwilling to back down,” Sally said. “Whatever this organisation has become, it stands on the ground that collective group laid, and it still moves the way they taught it to move – together.
Earning trust
“Then there are the women this organisation exists for. The clients who walked through the doors and trusted us with their stories, often at their most vulnerable, often after a lifetime of not being believed.
“That trust is not something we are owed. It is something we have to earn, every single time, and I have watched the staff of this centre earn it, again and again, with patience and care that never made the front page but changed lives all the same.
“To every woman who has ever sat in one of our rooms and let us in, thank you for your trust.”
Sally said the fight for women’s rights had never been easy. It still isn’t today.
“For millenia, women’s agency, women’s voices and women’s achievements have been disregarded, ignored or claimed by others. That erasure isn’t by accident. it is one of the planned impacts of patriarchy, and it’s exactly what this centre has spent 40 years pushing back against.
“Women’s health, women’s safety, women’s autonomy was never handed to us. We have had to fight for this, decade after decade, and we still do. Feminism isn’t a chapter we get to close and file away as finished business. It demands vigilance year after year, because the moment we stop watching is the moment ground gets lost.
“I am so proud that this Centre has never hidden from that fight, and never softened its voice to make anyone more comfortable. We have taken clear, unapologetic positions on the social justice issues of our time – including the Voice to Parliament and Palestine – not because it was easy or safe, but because silence was never who we are.
“And I am proud that we have refused to look away from state violence in all forms. Whether women filling our prisons for offences rooted in poverty and trauma, or decades of inadequate response to domestic and family violence that has cost women their lives, this centre has stood fearlessly on the side of the women and children being failed by those systems. That fearlessness isn’t incidental to who we are. It is who we are.”
Sally said her proudest achievements included tripling the funding for the centre, which took 38 years.
“Thirty eight years of being asked to do more with less, and refusing to accept that as the ceiling,” she said. “And of course the Trauma Recovery Centre: we campaigned, with the Illawarra, for the right for women to recover and heal from violence, and to make this right visible and central.”
Sally paid tribute to her loyal and supportive board and thanked all who believed in her “for their belief, support, humour, loyalty, patience and vision”.
She singled out five women, “fierce feminists” who backed her every step of the way. Anna Watson “who took my calls, and there were so many, whenever or wherever she was”, Vicky Tiegs, “a giant of the Illawarra who delivers incredible PR and does crisis comms like no other”, Karen Iles, “whose legal advice was always there, always right”, Sue Ilevslis for “12 years of the best working relationship I’ve ever had”, and Jess Koot “an extraordinary chair and leader, whose meticulous legal mind is matched only by her incredible work ethic.”
Paying tribute to Sally’s contribution, Jess Koot said “I am particularly grateful for the years that we’ve had the pleasure of working together and what I’ve learnt from Sally. I greatly admire Sally’s determination, vision, passion and integrity.
“Sally has never lost the focus on the why – the women we serve. Sally is a fierce advocate for women’s health and wellbeing and human rights. Her contribution during her time with us has been significant. Sally has left a lasting impact on us. Her legacy and sisterhood will continue for years to come.“
Sally is enjoying a short break before taking on her new role as strategy and operations adviser with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA), which sends the highest number of surgeons and medical specialists into Gaza globally.
In another highlight of the evening Cunningham MP Alison Byrnes and Whitlam MP Carol Berry presented certificates from the Prime Minister in recognition of the centre’s four decades of dedicated service.
Formalities concluded with a colourful performance by Shellharbour-based dance group Astarte Studio before more toasts to celebrate a remarkable milestone for the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre.
