History of the Site

The site, corner Brissenden and Beach Roads Collaroy, was originally owned by the Sargood family who used the beach house as a family holiday retreat.  At the end of World War I, Frederick Sargood opened the cottage to returned servicemen as a place for recovery and recuperation from their wounds. 

In 1921, in an extraordinarily generous gesture, he gave part of the site to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children to be developed into a centre for sick children, particularly those with TB and polio.  The service continued for the next forty-five years, with an annex and verandah being constructed to provide additional accommodation options. 

By the 1960s, with the eradication of TB and Polio, the site was declared surplus to the needs of the hospital and, while the land continued to be owned by NSW Health, the Department of Ageing Disability and HomeCare occupied the site as a day care option for clients with intellectual disabilities.

In July 2005, after an active campaign by local residents to ensure the vision of Frederick Sargood would be maintained, contracts for the purchase of the site were exchanged, thereby allowing the construction of SCI Australia’s planned rehabilitation and respite centre.