Records of the Uniting Church in Australia Frontier Services [Australian Inland Mission]

The Records of the Uniting Church in Australia Frontier Services is a large collection of over 500 boxes of records dating from 1897 to 2011 held by the National Library of Australia. Records in this collection were created by the Australian Inland Mission, later known as the Uniting Church Frontier Services. This collection includes records relating to the Far North Children’s Health Scheme, Warrawee Convalescent Home at Grange, and missions and student hostels run by AIM, including Halls Creek Mission. It also contains a small number of records relating to the early years of the Government-run Charles Perkins Hostel at Halls Creek.

Access Conditions

The majority of the records in this collection are available for access via the Special Collections Reading Room at the National Library of Australia. Copies of out-of-copyright material in this collection can be ordered through the libraries’ Copies Direct Service. You can request material to view in the reading room or via Copies Direct by logging into the National Library catalogue with your Library card, and submitting an on-line request. Further information and assistance are available at the National Library and through the National Library website.

Records

The collection of records of the Australian Inland Mission/ Frontier Services is predominantly made up of correspondence files, such as correspondence from matrons, correspondence about admissions and discharges, and correspondence with government departments, but also includes other items such as photographs of children, staff, children’s camps and buildings, marriage registers, hospital registers, patient & health records, financial records, reports, meeting minutes, diaries, news clippings, publications, maps and building plans, audio-visual material, and artefacts.

The material in this collection that relates to children and children’s institutions and programs includes:

• Photographs of Warrawee, Far North Children’s Health Scheme, children’s camps, hostels, and Halls Creek Mission (1934 onwards)
• Scrapbook of press cuttings on children’s camps (1933 – 1939)
• Warrawee Private Hospital Registers (1960s)
• Warrawee visitors book (undated)
• Health reports on Hostel children (1966-1967)
• Reports of patient treatments, Far North Children’s Health Scheme (1967 – 1971)
• Child endowment claims and statistical returns (1971 – 1974)
• Index of children receiving treatment (1973 – 1974)
• Published and unpublished historical notes on Warrawee, including “Warrawee Story” by Miss I. Paterson
• General correspondence and administrative files on buildings, equipment, financial and legal matters, etc (various dates)

For a full list of records in this collection please see the Finding Aid published by the National Library of Australia, available through this link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-251893719/findingaid