Archives



St Anne’s Nursing Home

St Anne’s Nursing Home was a maternity and general hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy from 1937 in the Perth suburb of Mount Lawley. Many babies were adopted from St Anne’s. Around 1958, the Home became known as St Anne’s Maternity Home. St Anne’s Nursing Home was mentioned in the Commonwealth Contribution to Former…

Devonleigh Maternity Home

Devonleigh Maternity Home was established in 1931, following an extension of the Devonleigh Hospital (which had opened in 1926). It was located in the Perth suburb of Peppermint Grove. It was privately run until 1948, when it was taken over by the State Government (most likely by the Public Health Department). Babies were adopted from…

Department of Corrective Services, State of Western Australia

The Department of Corrective Services was established in 2006. It took over the youth justice functions from the Department of Justice, which was abolished. From April 2014 the Youth Justice Board was created to oversee the work of the youth justice division of the Department for Corrective Services. The Youth Justice Board was established on…

Department of Justice, State of Western Australia

The Department of Justice was created by changing the name of the Ministry of Justice on 1 July 2001. It retained the same functions. The Department was abolished on 1 February 2006, with its youth justice functions going to the Department of Corrective Services.

Ministry of Justice, State of Western Australia

The Ministry of Justice was established on 1 January 1993 by an amalgamation of the Corrective Services and Crown Law Departments, and the Youth Justice Bureau. Juvenile justice functions that had previously been under the Child Welfare Act 1947 came under the control of the Ministry of Justice when the Young Offenders Act 1994 came…

Mentally Incurable Children’s Association

The Mentally Incurable Children’s Association (MICA) was formed in 1954 to develop appropriate respite and longer term accommodation for children with severe intellectual disabilities. In 1956, with the support of then Minister for Health, Emil Nulsen, a Home which was called ‘Nulsen Haven’ opened in Redcliffe. MICA later changed to its present name, Nulsen Haven…

Irrabeena

Irrabeena began in 1961 as the Slow Learning Children’s Group’s diagnostic and assessment centre in Perth. In 1964, Irrabeena became part of the Mental Health Services. Children were assessed at Irrabeena before placement. It is not yet known when Irrabeena closed, but no mention of it has been found since the early 1990s.

Slow Learning Children’s Group

The Slow Learning Children’s Group (SLCG) began in Perth in 1951. A group of parents whose children had intellectual disabilities created an organisation that resulted in educational and training programs, appropriate residential facilities, meaningful employment and pathways to independence for all Western Australians with intellectual disabilities. In 1989, the SLCG changed its name to Activ…

Disability Services Commission

The Disability Services Commission (DSC) was formed by the ‘Disability Services Act 1993 Western Australia’. The DSC merged and replaced the Authority for the Intellectually Handicapped (AIH, or ‘Irrabeena’) and the Bureau for Disability Services. The Act made the DSC responsible to the Minister for Disability Services, with its key functions being to ‘unify and…

Board of Visitors, Heathcote

A Board of Visitors for the Heathcote Reception Centre was introduced in 1929 for the independent oversight and ‘protection’ of patients. [From the State Records Office of Western Australia] Following an amendment to the Lunacy Act 1903 in 1920, a Board of Visitors system was introduced in Western Australia for the protection of patients in…