After years of concerted lobbying by a band of feminists determined that women should have greater control over their health, Blacktown Women's and Girls' Health Centre was opened 21st August 1987 with a grant of $200,000 from the Australian Government.  

Blacktown Women's and Girls' Health Centre Inc. came into being becaus a group of women gave their time and energy to a cause they were passionate about. They were known as ‘Blacktown Area Women’s Information Project’ (BAWIP).

BAWIP comprised of women from different backgrounds either working in the community services sector or who lived in the Blacktown area. They shared a common concern about the lack of access women from Blacktown and Outer Sydney areas had to health services generally (in the 1980s women needing specific women’s health services had to travel into the city) and the lack of  accurate women's health information and identified a need for women living in the Blacktown area to have access to local comprehensive and affordable health services.

BAWIP applied for and received funding to demonstrate the need for women's health information and services. A number of women's health information sessions with guest speakers were held in community halls. There was a great response to these sessions which demonstrated the need for women's health information and services. Further funding was sought from the New South Wales Department of Health. Politically, it was the right time to apply for funding as the then state government was receiving bad publicity as the women of Western Sydney were angry and vocal about the lack of appropriate and accessible women's health services.

Right from the very beginning Blacktown Women's and Girls' Health Centre had a feminist philosophy and viewed health in a wholistic way. Services the centre offers have always included both medical and complementary health services. In 1987 doctors and the medical fraternity were quite distrustful of complementary health services, so it was an innovative change to provide women with a choice of modalities for care all in one centre. 

Today, the Centre is one of 24 similar women's health services in New South Wales which share a similar philosophy and maintain close working relationships.

The organisation receives core funding from the NSW Department of Health, via Sydney West Area Health Service. Day to day operations are overseen by the manager who is responsible to a Management Committee. Our Management Committee is elected at the Annual General Meeting in November of each year and comprises of women from the local community.

Why a health centre specifically for women?

Because of gender inequality, women are treated different than men in society generally, resulting for example, in violence against women and sexual assault. They are also treated differently within the health system, for example, women state that their problems are not treated seriously by health professionals, so that they are inappropriately prescribed tranquillisers.
(National Policy on Women's Health: A Framework for Change 1988)

Blacktown Women's and Girls' Health Centre recognises that:

• Health is determined by a broad range of social, environmental, economic and biological factors.
• Differences in health status and health objectives are linked to gender, age, socio-economic status, ethnicity, gender inequality, and discrimination, ageism, sexuality and sexual preference.
• Health promotion, disease prevention, equity of access to appropriate and affordable services and strengthening the primary health care system are necessary, along with high quality illness treatment service.
• Information, consultation, advocacy and community development are important elements of health processes.
• Women have unique health needs to do with such things as reproductive health, menopause, and their common role as Carers in a family.
• Some health problems disproportionately affect women, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, osteoporosis, arthritis and other chronic conditions.

Blacktown Women's and Girls' Health Centre works in partnership with NSW Health Department and in relationship to National, State and local Area Health Service policies, which provide a useful direction and, in the case of NSW Government, the centre's funding framework. Aware of the needs of women in the areas we service and the philosophy and standards which guide the centre, the centre attempts to reach out within our resources to respond to those needs which receive limited attention from Government services.