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Friendship Central

Where Friendships and a Greener Tomorrow Meet

Friendship Central is a bold new community hub being built in the Swan Valley and it’s unlike anything else in Perth.

Part café, part permaculture garden, part marketplace, part learning environment, it’s a place where people of all ages can connect, grow, contribute, and belong, and it’s being built right now, step by step, with and for the community.

Understanding GFS Perth

Who is behind it?

Located in the Swan Valley, GFS Perth — 140 Years of Friendship, reimagined

Friendship Central is the next chapter of GFS Perth (Growing Friends Society), a Western Australian charity with more than 140 years of history creating opportunities for connection, community, and belonging.
We believe that friendship is one of the most powerful forces for good in the world and that communities flourish when people of all ages and backgrounds have somewhere to gather, something meaningful to do, and someone to do it with.

What is Friendship Central?

A Place That Brings Everything Together

Located at 4380 West Swan Road, West Swan, Friendship Central is being developed as:

  • The Friendly Fig Café: a welcoming gathering place centred on good food, conversation, and seasonal produce from our own gardens. The café takes its name from a beloved fig tree that once stood on the site now honoured through The Friendly Fig Café and a growing food forest of figs and mulberries.
  • Permaculture Gardens & Food Forest: a living demonstration site featuring a heritage tomato patch, herb gardens, beekeeping, aquaponics, composting, Hugelkultur beds, dry farming demonstrations, and a fig and mulberry food forest. Visitors can explore, learn, and get their hands in the soil.
  • Makers & Traders: a curated marketplace and retail space where local makers, producers, and artisans bring their goods and stories to the community. Shopping here means supporting real people making real things.
  • Children’s Play and Nature Spaces: play areas and a sensory garden designed for children to explore, discover, and develop a love of the natural world.
  • Programs, Workshops & Events: from intergenerational gardening programs to Social Fitness initiatives, community open days, workshops, and seasonal events. There is always something on, and always a place for you.
  • Volunteering & Skills Pathways: through our Grow-to-Go Passport, volunteers build practical, recognised skills across gardening, hospitality, facilitation, and environmental stewardship, skills that matter for life, not just for the day.

Why it matters?

Built for Connection. Designed for Community.

Loneliness and social isolation are among the most significant challenges facing communities today. Friendship Central is a practical, place-based response; a destination where people find purpose, form friendships, and contribute to something larger than themselves.

It is inclusive and intergenerational by design. Families, older adults, young people, volunteers, corporate teams, and community groups all have a place here. All ages. All backgrounds. Everyone welcome.

And because we believe that caring for people and caring for the planet go hand in hand, Friendship Central is also a site of environmental learning and regenerative practice demonstrating that how we grow food, manage land, and build community can all be part of the same beautiful story.

A vision for the future

Opening Soon in the Swan Valley

Friendship Central is opening soon and the community is already taking shape. We are currently building our Makers & Traders community, recruiting Founding Partners, welcoming Foundation Members, and planting the first seeds of the food forest.

If you’d like to be part of it as a visitor, volunteer, maker, partner, or member we’d love to hear from you.

“When we grow friendship, we grow a stronger community. When we care for creation, we secure a better tomorrow.”

Get Involved

Visit us — Come and see Friendship Central taking shape.

Join us — Volunteer, become a member, or join our Makers community.

Partner with us — Become a Founding Partner and help build something that lasts.