It started with a gift
The establishment of the foundation started with a bequest from the late Gordon Wyndham McKeown, whose family had moved to the area in 1900. His bequest included a house, an art collection and shares valued at $770,000.
Gordon’s family owned a bakery and much of the land in Watton Street, Werribee. Gordon was a Director of the Conservatory of Music at University of Melbourne.
An engaged and involved Board of Directors and WHF’s dedicated team work to build community and private partnerships, to raise vital funds and awareness for the continued development of health promotion, research, education, equipment, facilities and special projects at Wyndham’s public hospitals. By doing so we are ensuring the Wyndham community has the public hospital services that our community needs.
In response to Wyndham’s rapidly growing population, in 2022, a decision was made to increase the reach of our support to include Wyndham’s public healthcare services. To better reflect the Foundation’s evolved mission, we underwent a rebrand and are now called Wyndham Health Foundation.
The WHF is a tax-deductible gift recipient (DGR 2 status), which can receive tax deductible donations. It is established as a Health Promotion Charity under the Australian Tax Office law. In addition, WHF is registered with the ACNC.
Foundation's history
1993
Prior to July 1993, the McKeown bequest was held in trust by the Werribee District Hospital. However, with the closure of the ageing Werribee District Hospital and the opening of Wyndham’s new public hospital, the trust funds were entrusted in 1993 to the Werribee District Hospital Charitable Foundation, more commonly known as Werribee Hospital Foundation.
Since that time the foundation has astutely managed the trust funds for the betterment of public hospital services.
2005
In 2005, the foundation received a $1 million boost from the estate of the late Vera Hanorah Davis of Watton Street, Werribee.
Vera Davis was a popular local identity who lived and worked in Werribee until she passed away aged 102 years. Vera was a member of the prominent Davis family, who owned property and businesses in the region.
In accordance Vera’s wishes, a perpetual trust is now preserved to support public hospital services in Wyndham well into the future.
2022
Wyndham has been experiencing a rapid population growth over the past several years and this has put additional strain on Wyndham’s public health services. A decision was made in 2022 by the Board of Directors to respond to the increase in our community’s population by increasing its support to include not only Wyndham’s public hospitals, but also its public healthcare services.
The Foundation underwent a rebrand to better reflect their mission and were renamed Wyndham Health Foundation.
The Foundation felt a responsibility to evolve in line with the Wyndham community to ensure that our public healthcare is protected and supported. By providing support to various public healthcare services and hospitals means more of the community will receive the benefits of our mission.
Our Values
OUR VISION
The Foundation has a vision, to ensure that the City of Wyndham has the public hospital and healthcare services that the community needs.
OUR MISSION
And our mission is for the continuous improvement of Wyndham wide public healthcare and hospital services, to support patient care.
WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?
We are all about making sure the Wyndham community have a high standard of public health facilities and care for patients in the Wyndham community.
STRATEGIC DIRECTION
As Wyndham’s dedicated Foundation, we provide extra support to advance the public healthcare services for our community. Our key focus is generating funds to support and achieve high quality health care – this sits at the center of what we do.
