The Alexandra Home for Mothers and Babies (Inc) and Mothercraft Training School

The Alexandra Home for Mothers and Babies (Inc) and Mothercraft Training School was the new name given in 1950 to the Alexandra Home for Women in Highgate. It was run by a private committee of management and continued as a maternity home for unmarried mothers while also becoming Western Australia’s first training school for mothercraft nurses. In 1956 it was re-named Ngal-a Mothercraft Home and Training Centre Inc, remaining in the Highgate premises.

The Alexandra Home for Mothers and Babies (Inc) and Mothercraft Training School (also known as the Alexandra Home) was both a maternity home and a training facility for mothercraft nurses. It was located in Lincoln Street, Highgate, in the premises that had originally been acquired for the House of Mercy in 1901, and which had continued from 1916 as the Alexandra Home for Women.

Babies were born at the King Edward Memorial Hospital, and mothers and babies returned to the Home afterwards, but were placed in separate wards. It was not uncommon for babies born to the mothers in the Home to be adopted, either privately (arranged by the Home) or through the government department in charge of child welfare.

An article about The Alexandra Home published in the Sunday Times on 13 February 1955 stated that in order to protect the privacy of unmarried women and girls admitted to the home they were not required to provide surnames on admission. The article also stated that personal records of the residents were burned after their stay for this same reason.

In 1956, The Alexandra Home for Mothers and Babies (Inc) and Mothercraft Training School changed its name to Ngal-a Mothercraft Home and Training Centre Inc (Ngala). As Ngala, it continued in the Lincoln Street premises until 1959.