Castledare was established by the Christian Brothers in Queen’s Park (later, Wilson) on the site of the former Castledare Special School. It began as a residential primary school for boys aged from around 6 to 12 years, including boys who were wards of the State and boys who were placed privately (by family or others), in premises previously used for the ‘Castledare Special School’. Mostly, boys placed at Castledare were aged 8-10 years. Australian-born boys were sent to Castledare, as were child migrants (1947-1966). Castledare has had many name variations over the years, usually keeping ‘Castledare’ somewhere in the title. Castledare closed in 1983.
A residential institution, Castledare, operated on a site in what became 100 Fern Road, Wilson (originally, Queen’s Park) from 1934 until 1983. It was run by the Christian Brothers. Castledare was originally (1929-1934) a ‘special’ school for boys with learning difficulties; and from 1934 it became a more general educational and residential institution that accommodated boys from various backgrounds including wards of the State, child migrants, orphans and private admissions. Although it began with boys aged 6-12 years, it became more common for Castledare to admit boys aged around 8 to 10 years. British and Maltese child migrants, and Australian-born Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal boys lived at Castledare.
Barry Coldrey writes of Castledare (The Scheme 1993, p.67):
Besides State wards it gradually attracted ‘private’ pupils and in a few years, there were about the same number in each class. Some parents found it convenient to place their children in Castledare because of some family emergency, and it served as a moderately priced boarding school. The school was periodically inspected by Officers of the Child Welfare Department.
Coldrey also explains that to ‘remove objections of parents’ Castledare was called ‘St Vincent’s Preparatory School for Boys’ in 1934. But that name does not appear in the Child Welfare Department Annual Reports, which instead listed it as Castledare School or the Castledare Junior Orphanage for Boys.
Government reports (Signposts 2004, pp.144-148) don’t show the number of boys resident in every year, but it can be seen from published figures that Castledare’s greatest period of growth was after World War II. In 1937, there were 42 boys at Castledare. Between 1957 and 1968, there were around 100 boys at each year’s census. By 1975, there was accommodation for around 45 boys and in 1982, there were 32 boys.
Some boys stayed at Castledare for short periods, while others remained there for years at a time. Castledare’s purpose when it opened in 1934 was to educate primary-school age boys who would progress to ‘farm schools’ at Clontarf or Tardun. Some boys, who lived most of their childhoods in Christian Brothers’ institutions, did follow this path. But Castledare also seems to have been used to accommodate boys for shorter periods of time and in response to referrals from child welfare authorities or families. From the admissions data available, it seems there was always a high proportion of ‘private’ admissions to Castledare.
During World War II, the boys remained at Castledare and in 1944 the institution was inspected by Mr W. Garnett, from the British High Commission. According to Coldrey (the Scheme 1993, pp.177-178), Garnett was not impressed with conditions at Castledare and found it to be ‘poorly equipped’ with a ‘low standard’ of accommodation. As Garnett was inspecting Castledare with a view to sending post-war child migrants there, his negative report concerned authorities.
When the British Fact-Finding Mission on Child Migration inspected Castledare in 1956, it found about 120 children being cared for by four Christian Brothers, a staff ratio of around 1:29, much lower than the rate at other institutions with child migrants at that time (Child Migration Programmes Investigation Report, 2022, p.139).
In evidence to the Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care, later known as the ‘Forgotten Australians’ inquiry, a man described (Forgotten Australians 2004, p.42), a life in Castledare that has left a deep impression on him: ‘In 1950 aged 7 years along with other children, I was transferred to Castledare. This is where Hell on earth began. In 1954, aged 11, I was sent to Clontarf Boys Town a few miles away, where Hell continued for the rest of my childhood’.
Published, official, reports generally present a brighter picture.
The Christian Brothers’ institutions Castledare, Bindoon, Clontarf and Tardun first received widespread publicity about child abuse in the early 1990s. In 1993, the Christian Brothers in Western Australia issued an apology and from 1995 have funded independent services to help with family tracing, counselling and remedial education for men who had suffered in their institutions. Many former residents of these institutions have shared their experiences and memories (bad and good) at government inquiries, in books and in oral histories.
Castledare closed in 1983, but the chapel remains open.
Castledare was investigated by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Case Study 11: Christian Brothers.
This page was written by Debra Rosser, last updated 6 May 2025. Sources used to create this entry:
Title: The Christian Brothers' Agricultural School, Tardun, Western Australia
Type: Image
Date: c. 1936
From
1934
To
1983
Alternative Names
Castledare School
St Vincent’s Preparatory School for Boys
Castledare Junior Orphanage for Boys
Castledare Orphanage
Castledare Boys' Orphanage
Castledare Boys' Home
Castledare Junior Boys' Orphanage
1934 - 1983
Castledare was located at 100 Fern Road, Queen's Park, Wilson, Western Australia (Building Still standing)
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