Canowindra

Canowindra, in the southern Bunbury suburb of Gelorup, was established as a government-run group home around 1974. The home accommodated children from the local area so that they could maintain family and other social relationships while they were unable to live at home. The age and needs of these children varied over the time of operation. Around 2013, it was renamed Gelorup Residential Group Home. Canowindra was an existing house extended to accommodate up to 10 children, to be placed by the Department for Community Welfare (DCW). It is likely that it was known as the Bunbury Group Home before children moved in, and named ‘Canowindra’ once in operation.

By 1977, the Department of Child Welfare was reporting that the children’s parents were being encouraged to participate in planning for the child’s future placements (including returning to the family home). Canowindra also seems to have been a hub for the Department’s other out of home ‘care’ activities in the Bunbury area. By 1980, children with special needs could be assessed at Canowindra, and children who were fostered could attend functions (such as Christmas parties) there with their foster parents. A foster program was developed in Canowindra to assist with voluntary placements, and to assist the facility. It is likely that Canowindra was staffed by rostered group workers by this time.

Canowindra was staffed with group home ‘parents’,  in order to “offer a unique opportunity for assessment of special needs which is of great benefit for future planning for appropriate care of the children” (Annual Report of the Department for Community Welfare, June 30th 1980). Locating Canowindra in the Bunbury area was motivated by a desire to keep children who couldn’t live at home as close to their home town and their family as possible, in order to maintain pre-existing social, educational and familial relationships.

There are few published reports on the number, age, or gender of children placed at Canowindra but it has probably accommodated boys and girls since it began. In 1986, primary school aged children were accommodated at Canowindra and in 1996 it was described as a ‘hostel’ for young people needing short-to-medium term accommodation.

In 2004, Canowindra was being refurbished and it was upgraded in 2008. By around 2013 it was known as ‘Gelorup Residential Group Home’.