Lombadina, on the Dampier Peninsula, was a Mission established by the Catholic Diocese of Broome and run by the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottines) from 1909. It accommodated Aboriginal babies, children and young people. The Sisters of St John of God ran the Mission school from around 1917 to the 1970s. From 1905, the head of the government departments responsible for Aboriginal welfare was the guardian of children at Lombadina and from 1972 the chief executive officer of the Department for Community Welfare was the guardian of any children at Lombadina who were deemed to be 'native wards' or 'wards of the State'. In 1975, Lombadina became a self-governing community and its role in institutionalised child 'care' ended. However, it continued to receive government support as a subsidised centre under child welfare legislation until 1988.
Sources used to compile this entry: 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; Longworth, Alison, Was it worthwhile?, An historical analysis of five women missionaries and their encounters with the Nyungar people of south-west Australia, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, 2005, http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/163/2/02Whole.pdf. pp.298-299.; '1984/079, p.3507, 3508; 1988/110, p.4522', Western Australian Government Gazette Online Archive, State Law Publisher: Official Publisher of Western Australian Legislation and Statutory Information, with Western Australia, State Law Publisher of Western Australia, https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/home.html.
Prepared by: Debra Rosser
Created: 15 March 2011, Last modified: 18 November 2015