Maritime charity Stella Maris opens new office in Rockingham, offering safe harbour for seafarers

Seafarers have a safe harbour in Rockingham with the opening of a maritime charity in the city.

The Stella Maris Seafarers Centre opened on Goddard Street last month after moving from Fremantle.

It offers a safe space for crews who call into the ports of Fremantle and Kwinana to leave their belongings and access free wi-fi, a money exchange, a kitchen, and free pick-up and drop-off.

There are more than 15 centres across Australia, and in more than 330 ports around the world.

Roles for volunteers at the centre vary from greeting guests to helping with exchange services or the kiosk.

Stella Maris Seafarers Centre co-ordinator Claude Coutinho said small gestures often meant the most.

“A lift into town, a familiar face when a seafarer steps ashore, a phone call home, these become lifelines,” he said.

“When a young crew member is homesick or carrying a worry he cannot share with anyone on board, simply being there with him can change his day.”

Centre volunteer Nilda said she began working there about 10 years ago after helping her nephew following an accident at sea.

“I enjoy meeting people from different nationalities and hearing how much they love coming to Stella Maris. I’ve even met distant relatives by chance while volunteering,” she said.

Stella Maris is the official maritime charity of the Catholic Church.

The charity was founded in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1920, and opened in Fremantle in 1927 under the guidance of the St Vincent de Paul Society.

After a period of inactivity during the 1930s, it was re-established in 1942. A new centre was established in Queen Victoria Street, Fremantle, in 1944, where it remained until January this year.

It moved after talks between the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth and the cities of Rockingham and Kwinana to cater for seafarers docking at both Kwinana and Fremantle.

City of Rockingham mayor Lorna Buchan thanked Stella Maris volunteers on social media for the work they did for seafarers visiting the region.

“Stella Maris provides vital support, friendship and practical assistance to seafarers who spend long periods away from their families and loved ones while keeping global trade moving,” she said.

“For many, the centre offers a welcoming place to rest, connect with home and experience kindness during their time in port.”

The Rockingham centre was blessed and officially opened by Catholic Archbishop Timothy Costelloe on June 12.

“May it be a haven of welcome and rest, a place of friendship and renewal, where seafarers of every nation and tongue are received with dignity and compassion,” he said.

Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton said the centre was part of the church’s mission of hospitality and its long tradition of caring for those who lived and worked at sea.

“This new facility is critical for the ongoing support of seafarers,” he said.

“May it shine as a beacon of hope in our port and be a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for those who keep our world connected.”

Bishop Sproxton said in a pastoral letter while global attention had recently focused on the movement of fuel, oil, and essential goods, the seafarers who made that movement possible were often mentioned only in passing.

“Behind every shipment that reaches our shores stands a seafarer who has sacrificed comfort, safety, and time with loved ones,” he wrote.

“A warm welcome, a listening ear, a chance to step on land and rest: these simple acts of kindness become lifelines for those who spend months confined to a vessel far from all that is familiar.”

The centre is also preparing for Sea Sunday on July 12.

Sea Sunday is held each July to raise awareness of seafarers, and funds to support them.

Mr Coutinho said Sea Sunday reminded the wider community how much it owed to people it rarely saw.

“Almost everything that fills our homes and shops has crossed an ocean, carried by crews who are far from their families for months at a time,” Mr Coutinho said.

“Sea Sunday is our chance to thank them and make sure they know they have not been forgotten.”