Neuville

Neuville was a service providing short or long term residential care for girls. According to Signposts (2004), it is likely that Neuville started out as a successor to the Home of the Good Shepherd.

Government reports (Signposts 2004, pp.369-371) give no information about why Neuville was established, but it is known that by 1975, Neuville could provide accommodation for up to 20 girls and young women aged 13-18 years. There was also a ‘day-attendance’ centre attached to Neuville. This was known as St Clare’s and school-age girls who were housed at Neuville went to St Clare’s for their schooling.

Child welfare reports in 1975 (Signposts pp.369-370) described Neuville as a ‘large scale institution broken internally into small groups, which are very isolated’. Neuville had a ‘garden, tennis and basketball courts, swimming pool, and hall’ and the girls slept in dormitories. Their recreations included going to church, participating in clubs, going on picnics and to the movies, and receiving visits from family. Residents received vocational training in telephone and interview skills, and behavioural programs including individual and group counselling. There were 25 teenagers living at Neuville then.

It is unclear whether all the teenagers housed by Neuville lived at the main Home in 71 Forrest Street, in North Perth. There were two other houses attached to Neuville, but it is not known whether they were part of the residential or non-residential programs. These houses, from at least 1976, were at 117 Alma Road and 41 Burt Street, both in North Perth.

In 1979, it seems that most of the teenage girls placed at Neuville were over 15 years old. By 1985, Neuville had told child welfare authorities that it wanted to change its focus from residential programs to early intervention programs.

Neuville closed in 1987.