Archives



Keaney House

Keaney House was established in Alma Road, North Perth by the Society of St Vincent de Paul. It was a hostel for up to nine ‘working youths’, with a focus on aftercare for former child migrants from Christian Brothers institutions, mostly from Clontarf. This function ceased in 1965 and the building was later used as…

Catholic Migrant Centre

The Catholic Migrant Centre was established in 1984 by the Archdiocese of Perth to deliver a range of immigration-related programs from a small office in Victoria Square in Perth. In 1992, Sr Tania de Jong was appointed to help former child migrants access records about their childhood and trace family in Britain and Malta, using…

Catholic Episcopal Migration and Welfare Association

The Catholic Episcopal Migration and Welfare Association (CEMWA) in Western Australia was the state-based receiving agency for post-World War II child migrants who were sent to WA under the Catholic child immigration scheme. After 1965, the child migration program to WA ceased and the welfare functions of the CEMWA were taken over by the Catholic…

Subiaco Boys’ Orphanage

Subiaco Boys’ Orphanage for Roman Catholic boys was established by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Perth in 1872 and run by Benedictines (1872-1876) then the Sisters of Mercy (1876-1897), and the Christian Brothers (from 1897). In 1901 the orphanage moved to Manning and became known as Clontarf. The St Joseph’s Girls’ Orphanage was then established…

Father Hudson’s Society, United Kingdom

Father Hudson’s Society was one of the British Children’s Homes which sent child migrants to Australia. It was established in 1902 as the ‘Birmingham Diocesan Rescue Society for the Protection of Homeless and Friendless Catholic Children’ in Coleshill, Birmingham but was soon known as Father Hudson’s Society after its founder, Father George Vincent Hudson. In…

Family Care Society

The Family Care Society was one of the agencies that gave evidence to the Inquiry into the Welfare of Former British Child Migrants in 1998. At that time, it was a voluntary adoption agency in Northern Ireland, ‘working with the sending agencies in getting information, in tracing families and providing counselling and arranging for reunion…

Catholic Child Welfare Council, United Kingdom

The Catholic Child Welfare Council was founded in 1929 in Britain. When it appeared before the British Parliament’s Inquiry into the Welfare of Former British Child Migrants it was the peak agency for Catholic welfare agencies. In 1994, the CCWC created a Child Migrant Sub-Committee to collate the records and develop a database of children…

Mercy Community Services (Inc)

Mercy Community Services (Inc) was established by the Sisters of Mercy (Perth) in 1997 to carry on the services of the Catherine McAuley Family Centre. In 2002, the ownership of Mercy Community Services Inc was transferred to MercyCare Ltd which is legally and operationally separate from the Sisters of Mercy.

Presentation Sisters, Society of Australian Congregations of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Presentation Sisters were founded in 1775 in Ireland by Nano Nagle. Their website gives some history of the Presentation Sisters’ work in Australia. They came first to Richmond in Tasmania in October 1866, to Victoria in 1873 and to New South Wales in 1874. In 1900, the Presentation Sisters went from NSW to the…

Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists)

The Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, known widely as the ‘Trappists’, came to Beagle Bay in Western Australia in 1895 to establish a mission. The mission was transferred to the Pallottines by 1901.