Riverbank, in Caversham, was established in 1960 by the Child Welfare Department as a secure detention facility with a work-skills focus for up to 33 teenage boys. By 1970, 43 boys could be accommodated and by 1979 over 1,000 boys had been admitted to Riverbank for an average of nine months. After discharge, boys were…
Rangeview Juvenile Remand Centre, in Murdoch, was established in 1994 as a government-run detention facility for up to 80 male and female youth. By October 2012, the young people at Rangeview were transferred to the Banksia Hill Detention Centre. The Rangeview facility re-opened as the Wandoo Reintegration Centre for young adults in November 2012. Rangeview…
Port Hedland Group Home was established in 1977. It was government-run and provided emergency and short term accommodation for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in Port Hedland. By 1979, another group home had been opened in South Hedland, giving child welfare authorities a choice of placements. The Port Hedland Group Home probably closed around 1983.
Pineview was the name given to the long stay Pineview Program for teenage girls within the government-run Nyandi Maximum Security unit in Bentley. A description of the Pineview program was given in the Department for Community Welfare’s annual report in 1984 (quoted in Signposts 2004, p.427): ‘the most difficult offenders referred to Nyandi take part…
Oolanyah Hostel, in Marble Bar, was established before 1971 as a government-run Aboriginal education and employment hostel for school-age children who came from outstations and communities to Marble Bar to go to school. At first, Oolanyah was for primary school students, but by 1987 only high school students were admitted. Oolanyah closed around 1993. Government…
Oceanview, in Cottesloe (or Mosman Park), was run from 1970-1972 by the Pallottines (Society of the Catholic Apostolates) as a hostel for up to 14 male Aboriginal teenagers who were in apprenticeships. From 1972, Oceanview (which was also known as the Beach Street Hostel, and the Working Youths Hostel – Cottesloe) became a government-run hostel…
Nyandi was established by the Child Welfare Department in Bentley in 1970 as a maximum security female youth detention centre for up to 30 adolescent girls on a campus that included a 10-bed residential unit (Gwyn-lea). From 1986, Nyandi also admitted boys aged 12-14 years, and from 1989 young people on remand were admitted. In…
The Northam Group Home was established in 1980, providing government-run emergency and short-term accommodation for up to eight Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children from babies to young teenagers, with some long-term admissions. In 2002, the Northam Group Home closed due to staff shortages, but it was open in 2004, possibly closing permanently in 2005. Government reports…
Nindeebai Education Hostel, in Boulder, was established in 1971 or 1972 as a government-run education hostel for Aboriginal teenagers who were going to high school in Kalgoorlie. It closed in 1984. Nindeebai Education Hostel, which was purpose-built in 1971, was originally going to be known as the Goldfields Students’ Hostel, but the annual report of…
The Ngangganawili Group Home, in Wiluna, was a government-run group home established to provide emergency accommodation for children. It is known to have been operating in 1982. The Department for Community Welfare said in its annual report in 1982 (Signposts 2004, p.374) that one of the factors that led to the establishment of the Ngangganawili…