The Cooyar Mission, in Cooyar, was established by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in conjunction with the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The facility housed Torres Strait Islanders evacuated from the Hammond Island Mission Orphanage and St Henry’s Roman Catholic Asylum due to the outbreak of World War Two. It opened in 1942 and closed in 1944.
Due to the military take-over of the Torres Strait Islands during World War Two, all the residents of the Hammond Island Mission Orphanage and St Henry’s Roman Catholic Asylum were evacuated in January 1942. They were relocated to Cooyar, a small town north of Toowoomba.
Of the approximately 100 people moved to Cooyar, about 50 were children aged between 8 and 15 years. They were accommodated in an old, vacant and de-licensed hotel. It became known as the ‘Cooyar Mission’, however correspondence about the Hammond Island Orphanage during the war years referred to it as the ‘Hammond Island Institution – Cooyar’.
The number of occupants began to decrease and the Mission at Cooyar closed in November 1944.
From
1942
To
1944
Alternative Names
Hammond Island Institution - Cooyar
1942 - 1944
The Cooyar Mission was situated at Cooyar, Queensland (Building State unknown)