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Girls’ High School, Kalgoorlie

Girls’ High School, Kalgoorlie, was established in 1903 by the Sisters of the Church as a boarding and day school for girls. The first students were nine girls aged 6-10 years who had been brought by the Sisters in 1901 from the Orphanage of Mercy, Kilburn in England. These girls lived at Kalgoorlie for some…

St Peter’s Boys’ School, Fremantle

St Peter’s Boys’ School, Fremantle, was used as a temporary children’s Home in 1903 by the Sisters of the Church, an Anglican religious order. It accommodated around 13 boys aged 6-10 years and babies aged under two years. These children had been transferred from Perth College. From May to July 1903, the children were transferred…

Tower House

Tower House was established in 1901 by the Sisters of the Church, an Anglican religious order. It accommodated girls and boys aged 6-10 years who had been brought by the Sisters in 1901 from the Orphanage of Mercy, Kilburn in England. From February 1902 it was also a boys’ day and boarding school. Girls were…

Perth Native School

Perth Native School, which was also known as the Wesleyan Native School and Perth Native Institution, was a residential school for Aboriginal children established in Perth by the Wesleyan Reverend John Smithies. At first, the students stayed in the home of Francis Fraser Armstrong but moved to a ‘mission house’ in William Street in 1841….

Fremantle Native School

The Fremantle Native School was established by The Reverend George King in 1842. It was an Anglican residential school for Aboriginal children, mostly girls. Starting with 15 students, the school closed in 1851. The remaining students were transferred to Annesfield in Albany.

Annesfield

Annesfield, in Albany, was founded as a residential school for Aboriginal children in 1852 by Mr and Mrs Camfield. The first children had been transferred from the Fremantle Native School. The children who were living in Annesfield when it closed in 1871 were transferred to Bishop Hale’s Institution for Native and Half-Caste Children in Perth….

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…