On the afternoon of Sunday 23 October 1977 at Ferguson Hall, corner of Glenroyd Street and Lawley Crescent, the Mount Lawley Society came into being as shown in the Press Release on the left. A Steering Committee was formed with Don Urquhart (interim President) and Peta Townsing (interim Secretary) and other members being Russell Moffet, Frank Hemsley, John McGuire, Brian Haines, Ed Scull and Shirley Mulcahy. The inaugural AGM was then held at Ferguson Hall on Sunday 20 November 1977 with 60 people present, and the first Committee was elected as Don Urquhart (President), Peta Townsing (Secretary), Phyl Hamsley (Treasurer) and general members Jeff Currie, Angelo Christou, Tim Johnston, Hannah Downie and Richard Saulsman.

It can be seen from the press release that the first objective and principal motivation was to preserve the character of Mt Lawley as many of the old homes were being demolished for development. The second objective then mentions the specific preservation of “St Faith’s”. This was originally the old house of the Connaughton family at “Loughrea”, 705 Beaufort Street, built in 1914. They were neighbours of Samuel Copley who lived at “Mayroyd”, 707 Beaufort Street. Copley, together with RT Robinson and his brother Ben, purchased 730 acres (300 ha) of land to form the Mount Lawley estate which they sub-divided into quarter-acre blocks. “Loughrea” was offered for sale in 1958 for £10,000 and it was purchased by Perth College. In 1959 Perth College renamed the house “St Faith’s” providing such functions as dressmaking and stenography in separate rooms, accommodation for several resident mistresses, and a proper meeting room for the old girls. By 1963 “St Faith’s” was converted to house twenty boarders – “trusted older girls, who were even allowed to wear shorts”. Perth College subsequently demolished the building in 1977 to make way for the current playing fields. Indeed, the interim President of the Mt Lawley Society (Don Urqhuart) wrote to the Archbishop of Perth on 3 November 1977 regarding the fate of “St Faith’s”:

“Your Grace, I think it is only proper that you should be made aware of the amount of ill-will and odium which is being created by the decision of the Council of Perth College.”

 Perth College also purchased Copley’s home “Mayroyd” and it was demolished in 1981.