Narrogin Residential College was run by the Country High School Hostels Authority from 1963. At that time it was known as Narrogin Hostel. Its purpose was to accommodate children who went to high school in Narrogin.
The Narrogin hostel was mentioned in the Special Inquiry into St Andrew's Hostel, Katanning in 2012. It is clear from testimony given that Narrogin was one of the larger hostels in the State. In 1988 and 1989, 245 and 234 young people boarded there in premises that were described by one witness as 'pathetic' in terms of a lack of facilities at that time.
Testimony to the Inquiry included the names of key staff who served at the Hostel, and descriptions of practices at the Hostel during the 1980s and 1990s. At this hearing, an incident relating to the sexual abuse of a child at the hostel in 1990 was discussed. The testimony also included references to a former warden who had absconded with around $80,000 of Hostel funds during the 1979-1980 period.
Sources used to compile this entry: Redress WA Guidelines: Guidelines to Provide for an Ex Gratia Payment to Persons Abused and/or Neglected as Children While in State Care, Government of Western Australia, 18 May 2011; Public Sector Commission, Western Australia, 'Inquiry - St Andrew's Hostel - Public Hearing Transcript - 20 February 2012 p.9; 8 May 2012 pp.2696, 2739; 20 June 2012 pp.3765-3807; 28 June 2012 p.4087', Transcripts [St Andrew's Hostel Inquiry], Government of Western Australia, 19 September 2012, https://www.wa.gov.au/government/document-collections/st-andrews-hostel-inquiry; Public Sector Commission, St Andrew's Hostel Inquiry, Government of Western Australia, 19 September 2012, https://www.wa.gov.au/government/document-collections/st-andrews-hostel-inquiry. Chapter 13, pp.269-272.; 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.87) - 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: 16 January 2012, Last modified: 22 November 2018
Last updated: 17 October 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE00515b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License