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Western Australia - Organisation

Home of the Good Shepherd Industrial School for Girls (1909 - 1979)

  • Home of the Good Shepherd Industrial School, Leederville

    Home of the Good Shepherd Industrial School, Leederville, 6 July 1912, courtesy of National Library of Australia.
    Details

From
1909
To
1979
Categories
Catholic, Home and Industrial School

The Home of the Good Shepherd Industrial School for Girls opened in June 1909 in buildings alongside the existing home for 'destitute women and girls' in Leederville. Both Homes were run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. The Home of the Good Shepherd Industrial School for Girls was a reformatory that was regulated by the State Children Act 1907. It remained a 'registered institution' until it closed in 1979.

Details

The Home of the Good Shepherd Industrial School for Girls opened in June 1909 in buildings alongside the existing home for 'destitute women and girls'. The foundation stone was laid on 7 February 1909. Both Homes were run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Girls were sent to the reformatory by the Children's Court and their term could extend until they were 21 years old. Many girls worked in the laundry at the Home, but they could also be sent out to domestic service. The Home of the Good Shepherd Industrial School for Girls was a reformatory that was regulated by the State Children Act 1907. It remained a registered institution until it closed in 1979. The hardships endured by young women and girls working in the laundry, and the unfairness of being sent to the reformatory has been raised in government inquiries.

In evidence to the Select Committee of the Legislative Council on the State Children Act Amendment Bill in October 1918, the Catholic Archbishop of Perth explained that the Home of the Good Shepherd two separate sections: those 'industrial school children who have been sent there in greater numbers since the appointment of women police' and 'over 100' other children who were not sent there, nor paid for, by the state. The industrial school, he said, 'is quite distinct from the other, although it is within the same enclosure. The inmates are not allowed to associate.' At this time, the 'girls' in the industrial school were from 13 to 19 years old. The Archbishop described them as 'girls who were unmanageable by their parents or were found by the women police to be in great danger'.

In 1954, the Home of the Good Shepherd was criticised by an academic study which found that: going to Mass was in practice compulsory for non-Catholics, which was against State regulations; the 'training' conducted in the Home did fit within the regulations but it was 'doubtful' that it would be 'of any great value to the girls on their discharge'; and that the system here as elsewhere in WA was not up to standard with modern practices for industrial schools.

The facility closed in 1979 and the buildings were restored for use by the Catholic Education Office. The precinct of buildings is included on the State Heritage Register (Place No. 08880).

Events

19 June 1909 - 1979
Location - The new reformatory for girls was located 'on a site adjoining the Home of the Good Shepherd' on Ruislip Street, Leederville. Location: Leederville

Related Events

Related Glossary Terms

  • Adoption (1896 - )

    Adoption of the babies of young women who were sent to the Home of the Good Shepherd as pregnant teenagers was not uncommon.

    Date: 1909 - 1979

  • Industrial School

Related Organisations

Publications

Books

  • Byrne, Geraldine, Built on a hilltop : a history of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Western Australia, 1902-2002, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Leederville, 2002. Details
  • Kovesi, Catherine, Pitch your tents on distant shores : a history of the Sisters of the Good shepherd in Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Tahiti, Playright Publishing, Caringbah, NSW, 2010. Details
  • Paterson, Nancy, History of St Clare's School 1956-2006, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, Leederville, 2007. Details

Book Sections

  • 'Colonial Secretary's Department', in JS Battye (ed.), The Cyclopedia of Western Australia (1912), vol. 1, Hesperian Press, Victoria Park, 1985, pp. 502-507. Details

Online Resources

Photos

Our illustrations [Home of the Good Shepherd]
Title
Our illustrations [Home of the Good Shepherd]
Type
Image
Date
4 March 1911
Source
National Library of Australia

Details

Home of the Good Shepherd Industrial School, Leederville
Title
Home of the Good Shepherd Industrial School, Leederville
Type
Image
Date
6 July 1912
Source
National Library of Australia

Details

Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council on the State Children Act Amendment Bill
Title
Report of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council on the State Children Act Amendment Bill
Type
Document
Date
19 November 1918
Source
State Records Office Western Australia, Western Australia Votes and Proceedings 1918 Vol.2 Paper A2
Note
p.19

Details

McCourt Street [Home of the Good Shepherd]
Title
McCourt Street [Home of the Good Shepherd]
Type
Image
Date
1929
Source
State Library of Western Australia

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: 'Home of the Good Shepherd [Industrial School]', The West Australian, 8 February 1909, p. 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26220284; 'New reformatory for girls', Western Mail, Charles Harper, J.W. Hackett, James Gibey, for the Western mail office, Perth, 26 June 1909, p. 44, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37581573; 'State's Treatment Of Juvenile Offenders Is Condemned', The West Australian, 13 July 1954, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52954491; Heritage Council of Western Australia, 'Ruislip Street Catholic Precinct', in inHerit, Western Australia State Heritage Office, Government of Western Australia, 8 February 2015, http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/public/p/8880; Information Services, Department for Community Development, Signposts: A Guide for Children and Young People in Care in WA from 1920, Government of Western Australia, 2004, https://signposts.communities.wa.gov.au//pdf/pdf.aspx; Our illustrations [Home of the Good Shepherd] [Image], Date: 4 March 1911; Western Australia. Department for Community Development, 'Good Shepherd Home (Leederville) pp.23-24', ROADS. An index of locations and access to adoption records., with Adoption Service, Department for Community Development, Dept. For Community Development, 2005, https://web.archive.org/web/20110327071024/http://www.dcp.wa.gov.au/FosteringandAdoption/Documents/ROADS2006.pdf.

Prepared by: Debra Rosser