Alexandra Home for Mothers and Babies 1950s, courtesy of Ngala.
Details
The Alexandra Home for Mothers and Babies (Inc) and Mothercraft Training School was the new name given in 1950 to the Alexandra Home for Women in Highgate. It was run by a private committee of management and continued as a maternity home for unmarried mothers while also becoming Western Australia's first training school for mothercraft nurses. In 1956 it was re-named Ngal-a Mothercraft Home and Training Centre Inc, remaining in the Highgate premises.
The Alexandra Home for Mothers and Babies (Inc) and Mothercraft Training School (also known as the Alexandra Home) was both a maternity home and a training facility for mothercraft nurses. It was located in Lincoln Street, Highgate, in the premises that had originally been acquired for the House of Mercy in 1901, and which had continued from 1916 as the Alexandra Home for Women.
Babies were born at the King Edward Memorial Hospital, and mothers and babies came to the Home afterwards. It was not uncommon for babies born to the mothers in the Home to be adopted either privately or through the government department in charge of child welfare.
In 1956, The Alexandra Home for Mothers and Babies (Inc) and Mothercraft Training School changed its name to Ngal-a Mothercraft Home and Training Centre Inc (Ngala). As Ngala, it continued in the Lincoln Street premises until 1959.
1891 - 1916 House of Mercy
1916 - 1950 Alexandra Home for Women
1950 - 1956 The Alexandra Home for Mothers and Babies (Inc) and Mothercraft Training School
1956 - 1989 Ngal-a Mothercraft Home and Training Centre Inc
Sources used to compile this entry: Lang, Jean, The Open Door: a History of Loving Care for Families, House of Mercy-Alexandra Home-Ngala, 1890-1980, Ngala Mothercraft Home & Training Centre Inc., Perth, 1980. pp. 25, 37, 46, 48, 50-51, 61,63.; History, 2009, https://www.ngala.com.au/about-us/our-history/.
Prepared by: Debra Rosser
Created: 1 September 2014
Last updated: 17 October 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE01415b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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