Ellensbrook Farm Home, near Busselton, was a government-run ‘farm home’ established in 1899 by the Aborigines Department. Up to 11 Aboriginal women and children were admitted for education and training. It closed in 1917.
Ellensbrook Farm Home, on the south-west coast, was a ‘domestic-scale’ farm home for Aboriginal children and women. There is some doubt about when it was established. In his 1900 report, the Protector of Aborigines, Henry Prinsep, says that he established the instutition. Tilbrook, however, says it was established in 1879 by the Church of England.
As Prinsep’s report (p.4) says that the ‘lady in charge’ was ‘well experienced in the treatment of natives’ it is possible that Ellensbrook was operating with support from the Church of England from 1879, as Tilbrook suggests. However, it is likely that Ellensbrook started to operate ‘officially’ only from 1899. The lady in charge was Prinsep’s niece, Edith Bussell.
Prinsep said in his report in 1900 that the children in Ellensbrook could not be taken into the other ‘native’ institutions. A heritage assessment of Ellensbrook (2012, p.3) explains that the children were of mixed descent, mostly from the northwest and included children with Chinese and Malay parents. Three of the children who had grown to adulthood at Ellensbrook were beneficiaries of Edith Bussell’s estate in 1939.
Ellensbrook closed in 1917.
From
1899
To
1917
Alternative Names
Ellensbrook Home for Destitute Natives and Half-Castes
Ellensbrook Farm Home for Aboriginal Children
Ellensbrook
1899 - 1917
Ellensbrook Farm Home was established by the Aborigines Department at Lot 303, Ellen Brook Road, Gracetown, Western Australia (Building Still standing)
