Archives



Katukutu Employment Hostel

Katukutu was established in 1958, as an independently-managed hostel in Mount Lawley to accommodate young Aboriginal men coming to Perth to work from rural Western Australia. In 1961, Katukutu moved nearby into premises that had been Alvan House and by 1966 was run by the Baptist Union. It became a government-run facility by 1974, possibly…

Karingal (Nyandi Annexe)

Karingal, in Melville, which had once been a hostel for school-age children, was re-opened in December 1976 by the Department for Community Welfare as a ‘community annexe’ of the youth justice facility, Nyandi. Its purpose was to accommodate ‘younger girls’ who could receive intensive support to stay at school. By 1989 the residential program at…

Kalgoorlie Group Home

Kalgoorlie Group Home was established as a government-run facility to accommodate Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children, usually aged under 5 years, on a short term or emergency basis in a family-style home. It replaced the Goldfields Group Home. In 2014, it remained open. The Kalgoorlie Group Home has operated almost continuously since it was established as…

Kalgoorlie Hostel

Kalgoorlie Hostel was established in 1976 as a government-run employment hostel for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal female teenagers of working age. Over the years, it also accommodated young people passing through Kalgoorlie and young Aboriginal women who came in from outback communities, or from camps near goldfields towns. Young women in family crisis were also accommodated,…

Hillston, Stoneville

Hillston, Stoneville, was a government-run ‘open’ reformatory for adolescent boys on a working farm property. It continued the Hillston, Anglican Farm School, Stoneville. Hillston, Stoneville closed in 1984. Government reports (Signposts, 2004 pp.238-243) show that in 1969 boys from 12 years old were regularly admitted to Hillston. It was a large institution, and during the…

Hamilton Hill Hostel

Hamilton Hill Hostel was established around 1971 as a government-run hostel for Aboriginal high school students. For an unknown period in the 1980s, it was run by a Uniting Church agency, most likely Sister Kate’s Child and Family Services. It was possibly transferred back to child welfare authorities by 1988, closing by 1994, possibly earlier….

Gwynne Lea

Gwynne Lea, in Bentley, opened in 1970 as a government-run open residential unit that was part of the maximum security unit at Nyandi. It accommodated up to ten teenage girls (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal), aiming to help them adjust to living in small groups while enabling them to go under supervision into the community. Gwynne Lea…

Innaminka Hostel, Greenmount

Innaminka Hostel, Greenmount, opened in the early 1970s, when Mogumber (1951 – 1974) was being replaced by a number of small homes in Perth suburbs. It began as a hostel for boys, but by 1975 was used for short term placements for girls aged 5-17 years. By the 1980s, it was again a boys’ hostel…

Gnowangerup Agricultural College

Gnowangerup Agricultural College was established in 1966 as a boarding school on the same site as Gnowangerup Mission. From 1974, child welfare authorities placed teenagers, including wards of the state, with the aim of providing child welfare support to the young people while they were at school. The Gnowangerup Training Centre (2006-2010) opened on the…

Goldfields Group Home

Goldfields Group Home, (also known as Boulder Group Home) was established around 1980 as a government-run group home that accommodated Aboriginal children, aged 0-13 years, on a short-term or emergency basis. Most children admitted were under 5 years of age. The Goldfields Group Home closed around 1987 and was replaced by the Kalgoorlie Group Home….