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,…
Devonleigh Maternity Home was established in 1931, following an extension of the Devonleigh Hospital (which had opened in 1926). It was located in the Perth suburb of Peppermint Grove. It was privately run until 1948, when it was taken over by the State Government (most likely by the Public Health Department). Babies were adopted from…
The Births, deaths and marriages registration 1841 (4 & 5 Vict. No. 9) legislation required that these events be registered in Western Australia. The legislation set up the registry functions and prescribed penalties for failing to register. The registration of births and marriages in particular had a longer-term impact on the treatment of ‘illegitimate’ children…
The Assisted Schools Abolition Act 1895 (59 Vict. No. 27) was designed to stop subsidising private ‘elementary’ (primary) schools in Western Australia. However, the Act allowed schools which operated ‘in connection with an Orphanage or other Institution’ as defined in the Industrial Schools Act 1874 to continue to receive grants-in-aid from the government.
The Colonial Prisoners Removal Act 1894 (58 Vict. No. 10) included Industrial and Reformatory Schools in the definition of ‘gaol’. This enabled the transfer of inmates between industrial and reformatory schools.
The Bastardy Laws Act 1875 (39 Vict. No. 8) strengthened the provisions for obtaining maintence for illegitimate children from their natural relatives. This Act enabled orphanages and other institutions where illegitimate children were in care to attempt to obtain maintenance payments from natural parents.
The Factories Act 1904 regulated employment. It defined a ‘boy’ as being ‘every male under the age of fourteen years’. The Act did not cover employment in an ‘industrial or reformatory school’, or agricultural labour, or household labour. These were the main occupations of young people in out of home care, who were classified as…
The Education Act Amendment Act 1962 (037 of 1962 (11 Eliz. II No. 37)) clarified the role of the Child Welfare Department in dealing with children whose behaviour at school, or truancy, was deemed to need a child welfare or youth justice intervention. The Education Act Amendment Act 1962 came into effect on 9 November…
Youth justice records have, since July 1994, been under the control of the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Justice and (from 2006) the Department of Corrective Services. People who are looking for youth detention records should contact the Department for Child Protection and Family Support for pre-1994 records and the Department for Corrective Services…
The Department of Corrective Services was established in 2006. It took over the youth justice functions from the Department of Justice, which was abolished. From April 2014 the Youth Justice Board was created to oversee the work of the youth justice division of the Department for Corrective Services. The Youth Justice Board was established on…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
