Withnell House was a youth hostel in Mount Lawley run by the Salvation Army from about 1984. It took its name from the boys’ hostel that had occupied the same buildilng from 1953 to 1969. Around 1987, the boys resident there were transferred to Mirrabooka House.
The 2003 Compendium of Salvation Army Social Services Soup-Soup-Salvation states that the Salvation Army boys’ hostel Withnell House (1952?- 1971) on Guildford Road, Mount Lawley, ‘became used for another two decades for a variety of residential programmes for both male and female adolesecents’.
The premises housed Withnell House Girls Home from 1969 to about 1972, and then became a cottage home for children called Cottesloe House until at least 1979. The building may have closed for some time before reopening in about 1984 as a boys’ hostel.
A description of Withnell House written in the 1980s said that a youth hostel had run there since the ‘beginning of 1984’. This suggests that Withnell House may have closed and re-opened over the years. In the 1984 program, residents were aged 15-18 years and Withnell House was staffed by three youth workers on a 24-hour roster.
Mostly, the purpose of Withnell House seems to have been providing a transition to ‘independent living’ for boys who were in education or employment. In 1987, the boys at Withnell House transferred to Mirrabooka House.
In 1993, youth services at Withnell House ceased and the facility was renamed ‘Tanderra Hostel’ for men. In 2013, Tanderra was being redeveloped to provide purpose-built short-term accommodation programs.
In 2014, Debra Rosser confirmed that 68 Guildford Road, Mount Lawley, the former address for Withnell House, had become a vacant block.
From
1984?
To
1987?
1984? - 1987?
Withnell House was located on 68 Guildford Road, Mount Lawley, Western Australia (Building Demolished)
Subsequent
