Sister Kate’s Children’s Cottage Home was established in Queen’s Park by mid-1934 when Sister Kate Clutterbuck moved with seven Aboriginal children from the Children’s Cottage Home at Buckland Hill in Cottesloe. The Home was funded by the Aborigines Department to house children believed to have European heritage, which was determined by the colour of their skin.
During World War II the children at the Home were evacuated to Greenbushes Hostel and Memorial Cottage Roleystone.
From 1935 it was run by non-denominational management committees and in 1955 by the Presbyterian Church. Children in the institution from this time experienced emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
In 1947, Kenwick Farm was established as a branch of the Home. In 1980, Sister Kate’s amalgamated with the Methodist Training Centre at Mogumber and became Sister Kate’s Child and Family Services.
By July 1935 all children remaining at Children’s Cottage Home had moved to Sister Kate’s Children’s Cottage Home. The institution was established with the support of the Protector of Aborigines, who saw an opportunity for assimilation by forcibly removing light-skinned Aboriginal children from their family and culture to the institution. From the outset, the Home received grants and children from the Aborigines Department and subsequent departments responsible for Aboriginal matters in Western Australia. Ruth Lefroy also worked with Sr Kate to establish the institution.
“Some kids who were brought to Moola Bulla and who were too white would be sent to Sister Kate’s in Perth and some of them who were too dark for Sister Kate’s were sent to Moola Bulla. There was a half-caste boy who was at Moola Bulla, his mother was half-caste and his father white, and I suppose they couldn’t bear to see him down the camp with all these Aboriginal people so they sent him to Sister Kate’s.”
Confidential evidence 814, Western Australia; Bringing Them Home
Sister Kate initially intended to provide a home to light-skinned children, however “not those who have mothers who love and care for them … but those who are the most unwanted in the state.” (Jacobs, P, 1990 in Bringing Them Home). She sought the assistance of the notorious AO Neville, whose position as Chief Protector of Aborigines allowed him to remove any Aboriginal child from their mother into state care without reason or justification. Despite the stated intention of the institution, children at Sister Kates were forcibly removed to her care, regardless of their mothers’ attempts to prevent them being stolen. The children were to be assimilated into white culture, and their families prevented from seeing them (Telling Our Story, ALSWA 2009).
I was at the post office with my Mum and Auntie [and cousin]. They put us in the police ute and said they were taking us to Broome. They put the mums in there as well. But when we’d gone [about ten miles] they stopped, and threw the mothers out of the car. We jumped on our mothers’ backs, crying, trying not to be left behind. But the policemen pulled us off and threw us back in the car. They pushed the mothers away and drove off, while our mothers were chasing the car, running and crying after us. We were screaming in the back of that car.
Confidential evidence 821, Western Australia Bringing Them Home
In 1935, a non-denominational management committee, Children’s Cottage Home Incorporated, was formed to govern the Home.
In his 1936 Annual Report (p.16), A O Neville in his role as Chief Protector reported that there were two cottages, with ‘dormitories, staff rooms, sitting room, bathrooms, verandahs and sleeping-out places’ with room for 17 children in each cottage.The home also included a kitchen, laundry, hospital, chapel, and kindergarten.
In 1938 there were 90 children in the home, 93 in 1939, 86 in 1940, and in 1941 there were a total of 96 children at the home, 80 of whom were under 16 years old. Girls at the home were trained as domestic servants and the boys trained as farm hands and gardeners (The West Australian 1939). Once they had reached working age children would then be sent out to work on farms or in private homes. Children at the cottage home received education at local state schools, and in some cases attended college rather than being sent out to service.
Sister Kate died in 1946, and the institution was renamed in 1948 to ‘Sister Kate’s Children’s Home Inc’ to honour its late founder.
In 1955, Ruth Lefroy arranged for the institution to be transferred to the Presbyterian Church. The first official step in this direction was achieved in 1955 when a provisional council was appointed by the Presbyterian Church and in May 1956 the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church became the controlling body. At that time, there were nine cottages on a 23 acre site at Queen’s Park. Under the control of the church, abuse became rife in the institution.
The policy of the home was to take only the light-skinned children because Sister Kate’s policy was to have us assimilated and save us from natives. We were sent to school. We were given religious instruction seven days a week. We were all baptised, then confirmed in the Anglican faith. Usually the boys were sent out at an early age to work on farms; and the girls too, as domestics. So all of our training was consistent with the aim that we would become subservient to white people as domestics or farmhands. Confidential evidence 678, Western Australia Bringing Them Home
On school holidays, girls were sent to homes for domestic work that were not vetted, and were often unsafe. There are numerous reports of repeated sexual assaults (ABC, 2018), as children were returned to the same abusers multiple times. Reporting sexual abuse to the institution led to punishment, including beatings and isolation. As well as being punished for their assaults, they were punished for any pregnancies as a result of rape (Confidential submission 640, South Australia Bringing Them Home).
Children at the institution at this time were neglected, beaten, and assaulted by the staff tasked with caring for them.
For decades, those who lived at Sister Kate’s prior to her death have worked towards establishing an Aboriginal aged care facility at the site of the institution. It is seen as a significant place, due to the many Stolen Generations children who were removed there In late 2025, a 100 bed facility was announced, to be open in 2028. The aged care facility will be delivered and run by aged care providers Hall & Prior, in collaboration with the Sister Kate’s Children 1934-1953 Aboriginal Corporation.
From
1934
To
1980
Alternative Names
Sister Kate's Children's Home
Queen's Park Children's Home
Sister Kate's Home
Children's Cottage Home, Queen's Park
1934 - 1980
Sister Kate's Children's Cottage Home was located at Hamilton Street, Queen's Park, Western Australia (Building Still standing)
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Subsequent
