Laperouse Museum, Kamay Botany Bay National Park, c. 2014, by Richards, Andy, courtesy of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Details
The La Perouse Women's and Children's Home was a Salvation Army refuge for women and children that was established at the Old Cable Station at La Perouse in 1944. It closed in 1987.
According to the New South Wales Migration Heritage Centre, the La Perouse Women's and Children's Home was unique:
Until the late 1970s, this was the only such refuge in Sydney, with many women and their children finding refuge from violent marriages, misfortune and poverty. The refuge remained until 1987.
The Old Cable Station, a New South Wales Government property, was converted to the Lapérouse Museum and Visitor Centre in 1988, to commemorate the life of the French explorer Lapérouse.
![The Instrument Room during the Salvation Army women's and children's refuge occupation, circa 1987 [La Perouse]](../objects/thumbs/tn_ND0000442_LaPa_Sal_Instr_Room.png)
Sources used to compile this entry: A Changing Landscape and a People Return, At The Beach: Contact, Migration and Settlement in South East Sydney, La Perouse, New South Wales, NSW Migration Heritage Centre, 2011, http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/atthebeach/changing-landscape/; The Salvation Army Australia Eastern Territory, 'Submission 46: EASTERN TERRITORY SOCIAL CENTRES: A list of openings, closings, and function', in Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care - Submissions received by the committee as at 17/3/05, Senate Community Affairs Committee, Commonwealth of Australia, June 2003, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 8 August 2013, Last modified: 21 July 2015
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE01350b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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