Roelands Village, view, courtesy of Global Mission Partners, Churches of Christ Federal Aborigines Mission Board Photographs.
Details
Roelands Village was run by the Churches of Christ Federal Aborigines Mission Board Inc from 1975, as cottage homes for school-age Aboriginal children from all around the State. Children and young people at Roelands included those placed privately by parents and those who were 'wards'. Roelands closed in 1984.
Children and young people from Roelands Village went to primary schools in Roelands, Brunswick and Bunbury; and high schools in Bunbury and Harvey. During the school holidays, children who could not go home to family accompanied missionaries to the Roelands Campsite, on Caves Road between Busselton and Dunsborough. Weekend camps were also held there. This campsite was part of the Roelands assets. Eventually, the campsite was released by the Shire of Busselton to a local Aboriginal consortium.
Churches of Christ historians have advised that there were some young men living and working at Roelands Village who were known as 'working boys'. Some of these young people may have been at Roelands before the Churches of Christ Federal Aborigines Mission Board (Inc) took over. Their placement at Roelands Village was organised by government authorities.
Perhaps insert a sentence in the full note, eg: Government records sometimes refer to children being placed at 'Roelands Mission' even after its ownership and name changed in 1975.
In 2013, the Roelands Village site was undergoing renovation, to re-open as a 'place of healing'.
Sources used to compile this entry: ''Roelands mission transforming the hurt into healing' - Radio Interview, 10 July 2013', ABC Online, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, http://www.abc.net.au; Information Services, Department for Community Development, 'pp.449-451, Table 39: Children and Young People at Roelands Village, 1982-84', Signposts: A Guide for Children and Young People in Care in WA from 1920, Government of Western Australia, 2004, https://signposts.communities.wa.gov.au//pdf/pdf.aspx; Roelands Campsite, Busselton [Image], Date: 1983; State Records Office of Western Australia, Wards - Director's Approval to Transfer from one Institution to Another and Amend Training, Reference Code AU WA S1099- cons2607 A0191 V4 (p.333) - page numbers refer to PDF page number in digital file held by the Department of Communities (Child Protection and Family Support) in 2017.
Prepared by: Debra Rosser
Created: 15 March 2011, Last modified: 22 November 2018
Last updated: 17 October 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE00188b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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