St Mary’s Mission was a boarding school managed by the Benedictine Community of New Norcia for Aboriginal boys. From at least the early 1960s state wards were placed at St Mary’s. A report from 1971 stated that the school catered for “160-170 primary and secondary school children”. St Mary’s Mission was closed in 1974.
In 1943 there were 40 boys at the mission. A child endowment officer visiting in this year stated that the payment of child endowment had created issues between the mission and the parents of the children there, who desired to have their children returned to them. The missionaries resisted these requests as they believed they were better able to provide for the education of the children following a Christian, European system, and thus “better the conditions of the native race” (NAA, A885 B202) .
Departmental records show that Wards of the state were placed at St Mary’s Mission by the Department from at least the early 1960’s but the Department of Native Welfare Department may have had some earlier connection with the facility.
Wilson and Robinson noted in 1971 that St Mary’s was “one of the first mission stations established in Western Australia and [is] governed by the Benedictine Order, which also controls Kalumburu in the Northern Division [of the Department of Native Welfare]. It caters for 160-170 primary and secondary school children.” (Wilson and Robinson (1971) Aboriginal Hostels in Perth: A Comparative Survey, cited in Signposts, 2004).
The Annual Report of the Department of Community Services in 1974 notes that St Mary’s received a Mission Grant in Aid for camping equipment. A limited chronology of admissions and discharges is included in Table 43.%0
From
1848
To
1974
Alternative Names
St Mary’s College
1848 - 1974
St Mary's Mission was located on the Great Northern Highway at New Norcia, Western Australia (Building Still standing)