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Western Australia - Organisation

Earlsferry (1952 - 1989)

  • Earlsferry

    Earlsferry, 26 March 2011, courtesy of Heritage Council of Western Australia.
    Details

From
1952
To
1989
Categories
Disability Institution, Government-run and Home
Alternative Names
  • Nat Harper Homes (also known as)
  • Nathaniel Harper Homes (also known as)

Earlsferry was established as a Home for ten 'mentally handicapped girls' who were transferred from the Claremont Mental Hospital. Earlsferry, with Fairholme, made up the Nathaniel Harper Homes owned and run by the government of Western Australia. In 1988, ownership passed to the Authority for Intellectually Handicapped Persons. In April 1989, when Earlsferry was damaged by a fire due to 'misadventure', residents were relocated and the property sold. Earlsferry continues as a private home.

Details

Earlsferry was one of two Nathaniel Harper Homes owned and run by the government of Western Australia. It was opened by the Minister for Health, Dame Florence Cardell Oliver, on 27 September 1952.

Nathaniel Harper, whose child had Down Syndrome, donated money to the Mental Hospitals Department to stimulate what has been called a 'modest beginning of a new era in service provision' by the State for children with intellectual disabilities. Nathaniel Harper Homes were the 'first public sector residential facility' since the Claremont Mental Hospital began in 1903. Nathaniel Harper Homes were run by nursing staff, with visits from Claremont Mental Hospital psychologists. The Education Department set up a special school for children at the Nathaniel Harper Homes.

The Nathaniel Harper Homes were also involved in 'industrial rehabilitation', which was a type of 'sheltered workshop' employment. The young people and adults at Nathaniel Harper Homes took some of the overflow work from the industrial rehabilitation workshop at the Claremont Mental Hospital. They made glass pipettes and cleaned and re-assembled bottle-tops.

When the government purchased Earslferry, a number of renovations were made. These included adding a laundry, removing the outhouses and building a cottage for the Matron in what had been the orchard. Security wire mesh fences were put up around the boundary, a large tree and rose beds were removed and the driveway was bitumised and kerbed.

By the 1980s, Fairholme and Earlsferry were better known as separate hostels rather than collectively as the Nathaniel Harper Homes.

Events

27 September 1952 - 1989
Location - Earlsferry was established on the western bank of the Swan River at Nurstead Street, Bassendean. Location: Bassendean

Related Organisations

  • Claremont Mental Hospital (1903 - 1972)

    Girls were transferred from the Claremont Mental Hospital

  • Fairholme (1952 - 1984)

    Earlsferry and Fairholme were opposite each other on the Swan River at Bassendean and Guildford. Together, they were known as the Nathaniel Harper Homes, named after the man who donated £20,000 for residential facilities for children with intellectual disabilities.

Publications

Books

  • Ellis, A.S., Eloquent Testimony : the Story of the Mental Health Services in Western Australia, 1830-1975, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia, 1984. Details

Book Sections

  • Gillgren, Christina, 'Once a Defective, always a Defective: Public Sector Residential Care 1900-1965', in Errol Cocks (ed.), Under blue skies : the social construction of intellectual disability in Western Australia, Centre for Disability Research and Development, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, 1996, pp. 53-91. Details
  • Stella, Leonie, 'Normalisation and Beyond: Public Sector Residential Care 1965-1990', in Errol Cocks (ed.), Under blue skies : the social construction of intellectual disability in Western Australia, Centre for Disability Research and Development, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, 1996, pp. 92-136. p.110. Details

Online Resources

Photos

Earlsferry
Title
Earlsferry
Type
Image
Date
26 March 2011
Source
Heritage Council of Western Australia

Details

Earlsferry stairs
Title
Earlsferry stairs
Type
Image
Date
7 May 2011
Source
Heritage Council of Western Australia

Details

Researching Your Family History in Western Australia through Mental Health Records
Title
Researching Your Family History in Western Australia through Mental Health Records
Type
Document
Date
9 May 2012
Source
Mental Health Museum of WA Inc, Info-Sheet-Family History-A4-final.pdf

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: 'Mental Home Renovations', The Daily News, 8 September 1950, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84485571; 'Homes mean opportunity for retarded children', Sunday Times, 28 September 1952, p. 21, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60099143; 'Subnormal children get homes', The West Australian, 29 September 1952, p. 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49055185; Ellis, A.S., Eloquent Testimony : the Story of the Mental Health Services in Western Australia, 1830-1975, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia, 1984; Gillgren, Christina, 'Once a Defective, always a Defective: Public Sector Residential Care 1900-1965', in Errol Cocks (ed.), Under blue skies : the social construction of intellectual disability in Western Australia, Centre for Disability Research and Development, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, 1996, pp. 53-91; Heritage Council of Western Australia, 'Earlsferry', in inHerit, Western Australia State Heritage Office, Government of Western Australia, 8 February 2015, http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/public/p/128. p.6.; Stella, Leonie, 'Normalisation and Beyond: Public Sector Residential Care 1965-1990', in Errol Cocks (ed.), Under blue skies : the social construction of intellectual disability in Western Australia, Centre for Disability Research and Development, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, 1996, pp. 92-136. p.110..

Prepared by: Debra Rosser