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Government Receiving Depot

Government Receiving Depot (Subiaco 1907; West Perth 1916; Mount Lawley 1921) was the new name given in 1907 to the Government Industrial School and Receiving Depot. All children committed under the State Children Act 1907 were sent to the Government Receiving Depot before being boarded out, or placed in an ‘orphanage’ or industrial school (reformatory)….

Government Receiving Home

Government Receiving Home was the new name given in 1935 to the Government Receiving Depot in Mount Lawley, giving temporary accommodation to children awaiting placements with foster parents or institutions. In 1953 Government Receiving Home became the Child Welfare Reception Home. The Government Receiving Home, Mount Lawley, continued the Government Receiving Depot from 1935. It…

Child Welfare Reception Home

Child Welfare Reception Home was the new name given in 1953 to the Government Receiving Home in Mount Lawley. It gave temporary accommodation to children and young people who were: awaiting placement with foster parents or institutions; staying in Perth for medical or dental treatment; and referred from. Or awaiting appearances at, the Children’s Court….

Mt Lawley Reception Home

Mt Lawley Reception Home was the new name given in 1973 to the government-run Child Welfare Reception Home. It gave temporary accommodation to children and young people who were: awaiting placement with foster parents or institutions; staying in Perth for medical or dental treatment; and referred from, or awaiting appearances at, the Children’s Court. In…

Sunday Island Mission

Sunday Island Mission was established in 1899 as a private mission by Sydney Hadley. It was run by the Australian Aborigines’ Mission (1923-1929) and the United Aborigines Mission from 1929 to 1934 when it relocated to Wotjulum (1934-1937) before returning to Sunday Island. From 1905, children at Sunday Island were under the guardianship of the…

Orfelin Ecole (Orphan School), Broome

The Orfelin Ecole, or ‘orphan school’ in Broome was established some time during or after 1895 by the parish priest, Trappist Father Nicholas Maria Emo, known as ‘Father Nicholas’. It ran for three years with a total of thirty seven students who most likely lived at the school. Father Nicholas gave testimony (in French) to…

Swan Native and Half Caste Mission

The Swan Native and Half-Caste Mission was run by the Anglican Church in Guildford (Middle Swan) from 1888 to 1920. It continued Bishop Hale’s Institution for Native and Half-Caste Children. Aboriginal boys and girls were accommodated at the mission, in separate ‘branches’. The boys’ branch included non-Aboriginal boys by 1899, possibly earlier. The mission closed…

St Joseph’s Native School and Orphanage, New Norcia

St Joseph’s Native School and Orphanage, New Norcia, dates from 1861 when it established by the Benedictine Fathers. From 1904 until it closed in 1974, it was run by the Benedictine Missionary Sisters. Aboriginal girls and young women lived and went to school there. Tilbrook (1983) reports that sisters ‘Elizabeth and Helen (or Ellen) Tainan…

St James Residential College, Moora

The St James Residential College at Moora has been operating since around 1977. Its purpose is to provide accommodation for students attending high school in Moora. It is likely that the Residential College is the successor to an earlier high school hostel, taking its name from the St James Anglican parish church in Moora.

St Christopher’s Hostel, Northam

St Christopher’s Hostel began as an Anglican boys’ high school hostel in 1941 and in 1960 came under the control of the Country High Schools Hostel Authority. From 1987, it was co-educational. St Christopher’s closed in 2002. St Christopher’s Hostel was established in Northam in 1941 by the Anglican Church to provide accommodation for boys…