Devonleigh, in Peppermint Grove, was a former maternity hospital that was used by Mental Health Services (MHS) to accommodate children with intellectual disabilities from 1979 until it closed in 1987.
On the closure of the Devonleigh Maternity Hospital it was proposed to use the facility to accommodate up to 32 children with moderate intellectual disabilities, who were to be transferred from Pyrton Training Centre. It was also proposed to repurpose the on-site nurses quarters into an independence training home for 6 to 8 people, as well as using the former matron’s quarters as a training day centre for adults.
Mental Health Services took control of Devonleigh Hospital in November 1979, and it is likely that the first residents moved into Devonleigh in 1980.
In 1981 a visiting physician spoke about the impersonal nature of Devonleigh, where children wore ‘clothing stamped with MHS in large letters’.
Devonleigh was mentioned in the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices Inquiry (2012) as an institution that was involved in forced adoption.
From
1979
To
1987
1979? - 1987
Devonleigh was a Home for children with intellectual disabilities situated at 9 Anstey Street, Peppermint Grove, Western Australia (Building Demolished)
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