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Colonial Secretary’s Office, Crown Colony of Western Australia

The Colonial Secretary’s Office in the Crown Colony of Western Australia was established in 1828. It was responsible for the welfare of children in Western Australia, through the position of the Superintendent of Relief and Inspector of Charitable Institutions. It was also responsible for healthcare in Western Australia, including that of children and young people…

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…

Aborigines Protection Board, Colony of Western Australia

The Aborigines Protection Board in the Colony of Western Australia continued the role of the Aboriginal Protection Board in the Crown Colony of Western Australia from 1890. The Board was responsible for the welfare of all Aboriginal people in Western Australia. This included the care, custody and education of all Aboriginal children, and the power…

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…

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.

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…

Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (Inc.)

The Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (Inc.), better known as ALSWA, has been operating in WA for over thirty years. The ALS ‘provides legal representation and support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Western Australia, including advocating in policy and law reform in submissions, at conferences and in the media.’

Adults Surviving Child Abuse

Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA) was established in 1995 as ‘an Australian charity dedicated to the health and wellbeing of adult survivors of all forms of child abuse and neglect.’ The organisation provided advocacy services, support, information and referrals to survivors of all forms of child abuse and neglect. It became the Blue Knot Foundation…