Quote this number to access your records: State Records Office of Western Australia Reference code, AU WA S675
These records are held by State Records Office of Western Australia (24 July 2001 - current).
Correspondence Files comprises the main file series for the Colonial Secretary’s Office/Chief Secretary’s Department for the post-1883 period. The correspondence files deal with all functions the office had oversight or control of. Records from the Colonial Secretary’s Office contain information about out of home care in Western Australia, as well as a range of other matters. The files up to 16 April 1924, when the Colonial Secretary’s Office was abolished, will be most relevant as by that time there were government departments for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal child welfare.
Access to most of the records in this series is open, however some items have restricted access. For access to items in this series please contact the State Records Office of Western Australia.
This series contains correspondence with the department regarding specific children admitted to institutions, and regarding families seeking or receiving welfare assistance. Family surnames have been included in the title of these records, and are searchable within the SROWA database. The majority of these records date from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and as such have open access.
Note: Only those files for the periods 1883-1893, 1901, 1911-1973 have so far been fully listed on this database. Colonial Secretary’s Office files for the period 1894-1910 – excluding 1901 – are currently being added to this database. Use of the Colonial Secretary’s Office Indexes and Registers held at the State Records Office Search Room may be needed to identify individual files for this period.