Archives



Newcastle Shelter

The Newcastle Shelter was established in 1906 as temporary accommodation for children awaiting hearings at the local Children’s Court, children who were on remand, or who were otherwise in the custody of the police. It operated from the private home of Miss King, who, along with her daughter, ran the shelter with support from the…

Marribank Farm Training School

Marribank Farm Training School was continued on the site of the Carrolup Native Settlement when the Settlement closed in June 1951. Some teenage Aboriginal boys from Carrolup were the first residents. In June 1952, the government closed the Marribank Farm Training School, which re-opened later in 1952 on the same site, as a Baptist Union…

East Perth Girls’ Home

The East Perth Girls’ Home was opened in 1931 by the Aborigines Department as a hostel for young women to stay and receive training in domestic service. Over time, pregnant women were sent there to await the birth of babies and it was a reception centre for ‘half-caste’ boys and girls before they were placed…

Udialla Station

Udialla Station was established south of Derby in 1944 as a government-run training facility for ‘part-Aboriginal’ people, including children under the guardianship of the Commissioner of Native Welfare. Udialla closed in 1949 and the residents were transferred to the La Grange Bay Feeding Depot. Udialla Station was purchased by the Department of Native Affairs on…

Barton’s Mill Prison

Barton’s Mill Prison originally functioned as a timber workers’ camp. In 1942 the military requisitioned Fremantle Prison at short notice, leaving authorities with no option but to find another location for the inmates. Barton’s Mill was chosen, initially housing all prisoners until escapees and those considered a maximum security risk were returned to Fremantle. Young…

Ellensbrook Farm Home

Ellensbrook Farm Home, near Busselton, was a government-run ‘farm home’ established in 1899 by the Aborigines Department. Up to 11 Aboriginal women and children were admitted for education and training. It closed in 1917. Ellensbrook Farm Home, on the south-west coast, was a ‘domestic-scale’ farm home for Aboriginal children and women. There is some doubt…

Albany Residential College

Albany Residential College is a hostel for students attending high school in Albany. It is likely that the hostel was opened around 1974. According to evidence given in the St Andrew’s Hostel inquiry, the Albany Residential College was known as Amity House during the last decades of the twentieth century. Appropriate staffing at the Albany…

Watson Lodge

Watson Lodge, in Perth, opened in 1967 as a government-run hostel that provided close supervision for up to 12 teenage girls, all of whom were wards of the State. From 1976, Watson Lodge was used as one of the community-based hostels attached to Nyandi detention centre. Watson Lodge’s residential program closed in 1984. It re-opened…

Mosley Family Group Home

Mosley Family Group Home, run by the government, replaced Mosley Receiving Home in about 1981. It was in New Town. The Home provided temporary accommodation to children who were wards of state or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department and its successors. Mosley closed in 1991. A married woman managed Mosley Family…

Rabbit Island Mental Hospital

Rabbit Island Mental Hospital was a government run institution established in around 1917. It was previously known as the Rabbit Island Hospital for the Insane. It was run by the Inspector General of Mental Hospitals. In 1936 it became known as the Peat and Milson Islands Mental Hospital. Rabbit Island Mental Hospital was an institution…