Moore River Native Settlement (1918 - 1951)

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The Moore River Native Settlement was established by the Government of Western Australia in 1918. The 'Aborigines Act 1905' enabled children who were 'classified as Aboriginal' to be sent there, involuntarily, from all over the State.

The children and young people at Moore River were under the guardianship of the heads of the government departments responsible for Aboriginal welfare.

Over-crowding, disease and 'grossly inadequate health and sanitary facilities' persisted at Moore River throughout its existence. In 2018, research by the Aboriginal History WA unit showed that most of the 374 people who died at Moore River were children and many succumbed to treatable respiratory and infectious diseases.

Escapes were common, particularly among children trying to get back to family. In 1923, a corrugated iron punishment shed, known as 'the Boob' was built at Moore River.

In 1949, the school at Moore River closed and school-age children were transferred to other missions according to their religious denominations.

On 18 August 1951, the Moore River Native Settlement was closed and was handed over 'in toto' by the Department of Native Affairs to the Methodist Overseas Mission. It reopened as Mogumber, under the management of the Methodist Overseas Mission.

The death rate at Moore River reduced markedly after the government ceded control to the Mogumber Methodist Mission.

In 1974, the lands were transferred to the Aboriginal Lands Trust of WA.

Moore River Native Settlement was mentioned in the Bringing Them Home Report (1997) as an institution that housed Indigenous children removed from their families.