Strelley Station, in the Pilbara, was run by a local Aboriginal community. From at least 1981 to 1983, the Department for Community Welfare sent male and female Aboriginal teenagers who had been convicted of offences to Strelley so that they could receive practical training and guidance.
Strelley Station was one of a number of pastoral stations that the Department for Community Welfare utilised to provide teenage, Aboriginal males and females who had been convicted of offences with an alternative to detention in Perth. In the 1981 annual report (Signposts 2004, p.505) the department explained what it saw as the benefits of this approach. Strelley: 'offers care, supervision, training and employment in a relevant cultural setting where the vocational skills learned and the lifestyle is appropriate and attractive to youths and girls from the town where they face a more uncertain future'.
The span of years that young people were placed at Strelley is not known.
Government records sometimes refer to an alternative spelling, Strelly.
Sources used to compile this entry: Information Services, Department for Community Development, 'pp.505-506', 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; 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.97) - 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, Anna Trengove and Leanne Howard
Created: 15 March 2011, Last modified: 22 November 2018