The Open Door was a maternity home run by the Salvation Army in North Fremantle from 1903 to 1922. From 1911, it was also known as Hopetoun. Originally established for ‘unmarried mothers’, The Open Door also provided general maternity services, with single and married women in separate sections. In 1922, Salvation Army’s maternity services moved…
The Graceville Centre was the new name given in 1974 to what had been known since 1903 as Graceville. A Salvation Army Rescue Home, Graceville had replaced Cornelie Home at Highgate. By1974 the Graceville Centre in Highgate was a complex of buildings accommodating: mothers and children temporarily; women aged 16-25 for alcohol rehabilitation; and, young…
The Boomerang Youth Hostel, Geraldton began in 1979 as accommodation for Aboriginal youth attending the Geraldton Technical School. By 2005, the hostel accommodated up to 20 Aboriginal youth on a short-term basis. The youth hostel closed in 2011 and reopened in 2012 for people of all ages. The Boomerang Youth Hostel was called the Aboriginal…
Gnowangerup Mission was established in 1926 by Hope and Hedley Wright on behalf of the Australian Aborigines’ Mission, on a 6.5 acre Government Reserve just outside Gnowangerup, in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. In 1929 the Australian Aborigines’ Mission became the United Aborigines Mission and the Wrights continued to run Gnowangerup on its…
The Salvation Army Home for Neglected Girls was established in 1894 in Claisebrook Road, Perth (East Perth), for women and girls with a range of needs. The Home moved to Summers Street, East Perth in 1895. In 1898, new premises were built and the Home moved to Cornelie House in Lincoln Street (North Perth, Highgate)….
Cornelie Home was the name given in 1898 to the Salvation Army’s rescue Home when it moved to North Perth (Highgate) from Perth (East Perth). It accommodated single mothers, pregnant women, elderly women and women who had been released from prison. The 1900 report of the Aborigines Department showed that the Salvation Army Rescue Home…
The Female Home, or Poor House, began in 1851, and was then named the ‘Servants’ Home’. From 1854, destitute or orphaned children under 10 years of age were admitted. It was first run by the Ladies’ Friendly Society, but by the mid-1850s was government-run. From 1902, children were instead admitted to the Government Industrial School…
Wanslea Hostel was established in North Perth (Mt Lawley) in 1943 by the Women’s Australian National Service (WANS) for young children who could not live at home due to parental sickness or war-related absence. It closed in 1946 and was replaced by a larger children’s Home, Wanslea (Cottesloe), in January 1947. Wanslea Hostel was established…
Carrolup, near Katanning, was a government-run ‘native settlement’ which had been closed in 1922 and was and re-opened by the Department of Native Affairs in 1939. By 1944, there were 129 boys, girls and older children in government ‘care’ at Carrolup. In 1951, the government withdrew most of the children from Carrolup and it was…
Cawley House was one of the group Homes in the grounds of the government-run Walcott Centre in Mt Lawley. In 1984, Cawley House was replaced by the Bedford Park Hostel. Cawley House was a government-run group Home, created when the Walcott Centre was divided into two separate Homes, Andrew House and Cawley House. Cawley House…
Dec 17, 2025
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