Laverton Hostel

Laverton Hostel, in Craiggie Street, Laverton was established in 1984 as a government-run education hostel for Aboriginal school-age children. By 1986, the hostel provided emergency accommodation for mostly pre-school age children and by the 1990s it was an emergency hostel for children and young people, from birth to 18 years, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. Laverton Hostel was transferred to the Ministry of Justice in 1994.

Government reports (Signposts 2004, pp.287-288) show that Laverton Hostel was originally established by the Department for Community Welfare in 1984 as an Aboriginal education and employment hostel for children from outlying areas who had to come into Laverton to go to school. It was possibly known as ‘Raeside’ at first. By 1986, the hostel was also providing emergency accommodation for young children in the town, mostly pre-schoolers.

Demand for the hostel’s services, which had become increasingly involved with ‘care and protection’ issues rather than student boarding, fell in the 1990s. Authorities reported (Signposts p.288) that even though petrol sniffing and other serious issues challenged children in the Goldfields area, during the 1993-1994 year, the Laverton Hostel ‘had 49 admissions (ranging in age from 0-6 to 18+ years, with only one non-Aboriginal admission), but its average occupancy was 1.5 children and there were 57 days with only one resident and a further 163 days with only one resident. Laverton township was also undergoing considerable change with the closure of nickel mines’.

Laverton Hostel was transferred to the Ministry of Justice in 1994, for use as a bail hostel.