Hawkevale was started by the Slow Learning Children’s Group (SLCG) on a property in Maida Vale in 1957. It was a ‘farm village’ for adolescents and adults with intellectual disabilities, and offered accommodation, employment and recreation. Hawkevale was replaced by a new facility in High Wycombe in 1970. Hawkevale was named after the Premier, Mr…
The State Library of Western Australia’s JS Battye Library of West Australian History Collection contains records of the Slow Learning Children’s Group. The collection includes minutes of meetings, history, newspaper cuttings, and promotional leaflets. Access Conditions This collection is open and available for public access. To access these records please contact the State Library of…
Irrabeena began in 1961 as the Slow Learning Children’s Group’s diagnostic and assessment centre in Perth. In 1964, Irrabeena became part of the Mental Health Services. Children were assessed at Irrabeena before placement. It is not yet known when Irrabeena closed, but no mention of it has been found since the early 1990s.
The State Library of Western Australia’s JS Battye Library of West Australian History Collection contains records of the Slow Learning Children’s Group. This collection is identified by the Ephemera number PR9182. The collection mostly contains brochures that describe the Slow Learning Children’s Group’s services, resource and key events, including fundraising. Access Conditions This collection is…
The State Library of Western Australia’s JS Battye Library of West Australian History Collection contains records of the Activ Foundation. This collection is identified by the Ephemera number PR1370. The collection mostly contains brochures that describe Activ Foundation services, products and key events. Access Conditions This collection is open and accessible by the public. For…
The Slow Learning Children’s Group (SLCG) began in Perth in 1951. A group of parents whose children had intellectual disabilities created an organisation that resulted in educational and training programs, appropriate residential facilities, meaningful employment and pathways to independence for all Western Australians with intellectual disabilities. In 1989, the SLCG changed its name to Activ…
A Royal Commission to inquire into the administration of Heathcote and other mental health hospitals was held in Western Australia in 1938. The Report of the Royal Commission does not mention children, but it does describe conditions at Heathcote and Claremont during years when children were sent there. Hospitals in the mental health system were…
A Royal Commission to inquire into the custody of people classified as ‘criminally insane’ was held in Western Australia in 1936. The Report of the Royal Commission does not mention children, but it does describe conditions at Claremont during years when children were sent there. Notably, there was no special ward for patients who were…
The Education Act Amendment Act 1952 (030 of 1952 (1 Eliz. II No. 30)) extended the provisions for the commitment of children with a disability to an institution. The Act now applied to children who were ‘blind, deaf, mute, cerebrally palsied or mentally defective.’ Prior to the Education Act Amendment Act 1952, parents whose child…
The Disability Services Commission (DSC) was formed by the ‘Disability Services Act 1993 Western Australia’. The DSC merged and replaced the Authority for the Intellectually Handicapped (AIH, or ‘Irrabeena’) and the Bureau for Disability Services. The Act made the DSC responsible to the Minister for Disability Services, with its key functions being to ‘unify and…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
