RDA here to stay at Port of Bunbury

Horses vital to Riding for the Disabled Association Australia South West Centre (RDAASW) will continue to have a ‘home away from home’ at the Port of Bunbury for at least the next three years.

A renewed peppercorn agreement between RDAASW and Southern Ports will provide areas for agistment across the Port of Bunbury’s 482 hectares of land, particularly in the school holidays.

Southern Ports Acting Chief Executive Officer Monica Birkner said giving organisations like Riding for the Disabled Association and Leschenault Community Nursery access to land that is ultimately set aside for long term development was a win for all.

“Supporting our community is a big part of our ethos at Southern Ports, so extending our partnership with Riding for the Disabled Association so that it can focus on the important service it gives to community was an easy decision for us,” Ms Birkner said.

“The land where the Association will continue to agist its horses will, in the longer term, be vital to the future growth of the Port of Bunbury – but in the immediate future it is an asset we can make available to the community.”

The new agreement will extend the eight-year partnership between Southern Ports and RDAASW, after the previous licence came to an end in May.

RDAASW spokesperson Pat Brown thanked Southern Ports for generously allowing the use of its land.

“This is particularly critical during the three-month summer period when our paddocks are bare,” Pat said.

“The welfare of our horses is crucial to the operation of our organisation and having weeks of rest in the paddocks at the Port of Bunbury must seem like a holiday to them.”

RDAASW is one of more than 30 organisations to which Southern Ports provides leases and licences at its Port of Bunbury to boost local investment and economic prosperity in the burgeoning South West region.

Throughout the year, RDAASW’s team of 44 volunteers provides programs for more than 40 people with a range of disabilities including autism, cerebral palsy, downs syndrome, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy at its Gelorup base.

To learn more about the Riding for the Disabled Association Australia South West Centre visit its website - https://www.rdaasw.org.au/