Archives



Udialla Station

Udialla Station was established south of Derby in 1944 as a government-run training facility for ‘part-Aboriginal’ people, including children under the guardianship of the Commissioner of Native Welfare. Udialla closed in 1949 and the residents were transferred to the La Grange Bay Feeding Depot. Udialla Station was purchased by the Department of Native Affairs on…

Subsidised Institution

Subsidised institution (or scheduled institution) is a term that has been used to describe an out-of-home care institution which received a government payment for each eligible child accommodated there. The subsidies were sometimes referred to as inmate subsidies or capitation grants, and in some jurisdictions institutions receiving subsidies were known as Approved Institutions or Approved…

Barton’s Mill Prison

Barton’s Mill Prison originally functioned as a timber workers’ camp. In 1942 the military requisitioned Fremantle Prison at short notice, leaving authorities with no option but to find another location for the inmates. Barton’s Mill was chosen, initially housing all prisoners until escapees and those considered a maximum security risk were returned to Fremantle. Young…

Unemployed Boys’ Farm, Wokalup

The Unemployed Boys’ Farm at Wokalup was established on the Bundidup farm by the Ugly Men’s Association in 1932, for city-raised boys aged 14 to 18 years. Beginning with seven boys, 250 boys had been sent to the farm by 1937, either by the Child Welfare Department, by family or at the boy’s request. After…

Mowanjum Collection: Barunga Bequest

The Mowanjum Collection: Barunga Bequest is a collection of items relating to people who lived at Mowanjum Mission. It is held by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). Most of the collection dates from 1971 and it includes family history data. AIATSIS has prepared an online finding aid, known as…

Sunday Island Mission

Sunday Island Mission was re-established by the United Aborigines Mission after a brief period at Wotjulum (1934-1937). It returned to the original site of the Sunday Island Mission (1899-1934). Children at Sunday Island were under the guardianship of the heads of the departments responsible for Aboriginal welfare until 1963. Sunday Island Mission closed in 1964.

Wotjulum

Wotjulum, near Yampi, was established by the United Aborigines Mission in 1934, with people transferred from Sunday Island. In 1937 Wotjulum closed and the mission returned to Sunday Island. Children at Wotjulum were under the guardianship of the heads of the departments responsible for Aboriginal welfare. In 1951, the Presbyterian Church opened a mission on…

Wotjulum

Wotjulum, near Yampi, was established as a mission station by the Presbyterian Church in 1951, with people transferred from Kunmunya Station and the government station at Munja. Children at Wotjulum were under the guardianship of the Commissioners responsible for Aboriginal welfare. Wotjulum closed in 1956 and residents were transferred to Mowanjum, near Derby. Wotjulum, near…

Port George IV Mission

Port George IV Mission began in 1912 at Walcott Inlet in the west Kimberleys, but by 1913 was located at Port George IV. It was run by the Presbyterian Church. Children living on the mission were under the guardianship of the head of the departments responsible for Aboriginal welfare, but they lived with their families….

Benedictine Missionary Sisters

The Benedictine Missionary Sisters were a group of Catholic religious women who ran what was known as St Joseph’s Native School and Orphanage, New Norcia from 1904 to 1974. The Benedictine Missionary Sisters were encouraged, according to Massam (2008, p.205) to value ‘poverty, hard manual work, separation from family, obedience to a superior, and dedication…