The Australian Aboriginal Evangelical Mission (AAEM) Hostel in Esperance, Western Australia was established in 1966. It was an Aboriginal Education and Employment Hostel. It provided accommodation, supervision and full board for Aboriginal boys aged 15 years and older who were working in the district. It was open until at least 1980.
The AAEM Hostel was largely independent of the Department of Native Welfare, but some financial assistance was received for particular building projects. It appears that the hostel was run by John Pedler (also known as Pedlar) for some years, possibly from 1966. It is not known how long Mr Pedler ran the hostel, but it was likely to have been until at least into the 1970s, when he went up to Kalgoorlie to run the Millen Street Hostel. The AAEM Hostel continued until at least 1980.
Boys who lived at AAEM were aged over 15 years. It is possible that some boys were wards of the State.
During the 1970s, the boys were able to learn panel-beating, spray-painting, welding and mechanical skills at the Boys Training Workshop that had been established in Esperance by the superintendent of the Fairhaven Hostel. Some young men completed apprenticeships there. The young people at the Fairhaven Hostel, Condingup Hostel and the AAEM Hostel socialised regularly in Esperance.
The Western Australian government has agreed to be a funder of last resort for this institution. This means that although the institution is now defunct, it is participating in the National Redress Scheme, and the government has agreed to pay the institution’s share of costs of providing redress to a person (as long as the government is found to be equally responsible for the abuse a person experienced).
From
1966
To
1980?
Alternative Names
AAEM Hostel
Esperance Mission Home
Pedlar's Hostel
1966 - 1980?
The Australian Aboriginal Evangelical Mission Hostel was located at 25 Daphne Street, Esperance, Western Australia (Building Still standing)