Beds in remote homes
Why so many people in remote Australia sleep on the floor
Thousands of people in remote Australia sleep on the floor or share beds. Essential appliances fail within months because they were never designed for remote conditions. The freight makes everything unaffordable. This isn't a cultural choice. It's a failure of infrastructure.
What the numbers say
59%
of remote homes lack washing machines
Source: FRRR, 2022
1 in 3
children have scabies at any time
Source: PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
55%
of very remote First Nations homes are overcrowded
Source: AIHW, 2021 Census
1-2 yrs
lifespan of standard washing machines (vs 10-15)
Source: East Arnhem Spin Project
Why a bed matters
A bed gets a person up off the ground. In a crowded house, a bed of your own is rest, and somewhere for visiting family to sleep that is not the floor.
Scabies spreads fast where people share bedding and sleep close together. Left untreated, it can lead to rheumatic heart disease, which is preventable. That pathway is why we started making beds and washing machines. We do not claim beds prevent disease: clean, washable bedding and a working washing machine are part of the home conditions that health services already ask for.
Ordinary beds and mattresses do not last out bush. Freight makes them expensive to get there and to replace. The Stretch Bed is built for remote homes: recycled-plastic legs, galvanised steel poles and a canvas that comes off to wash. It is designed in community and assembled in community.
Where to go from here
Buying for an organisation
Stretch Beds for a health service, school, council or housing body, quoted and invoiced to your organisation.
See the bed and get a quoteHow a run works
Forty beds for homeland families in Maningrida, made at our facility and assembled by young people in community.
Read the Maningrida case studyA community organisation
Hold Stretch Beds and sell them to your own buyers.
Sell beds