Methodist Girls' Home

The Methodist Girls’ Home was established in 1917 in North Perth by the Central Methodist Mission, for girls of working age. When it closed in 1924, the young women were transferred to the Salvation Army’s Seaforth ‘reformatory’ at Gosnells.

The Methodist Girls’ Home opened on 27 October 1917. At the Annual Meeting of the ‘Perth Central Methodist Mission’ in August 1917, a collection for the ‘Haven of Hope’ girls’ home was made, with £300 taken. The home does not seem to have been called the ‘Haven of Hope’ thereafter. The house and ‘half acre’ of land was purchased with a large donation of £750 from Miss Hardey. It is likely that she was a relative of Joseph Hardey who had arrived on the Tranby with other Wesleyan Methodists in 1830. The Methodist Girls’ Home accommodated girls who were committed via the Children’s Court. By 30 June 1924, the Home had closed due to a ‘reduction in the number of committals and the small number in residence’.

The Methodist Girls’ Home was described in a newspaper article in 1923 as having ’12 bedrooms for the 12 girl residents’ with a ‘sitting-room with a piano and a dining-room’ and an ‘atmosphere where their best and holiest nature has a chance of expansion’. The article reported that the girls worked at dressmaking to bring in income for the home and said that they were not given ‘work that needs no thought’ but ‘do knitting of all kinds…socks and stockings on a machine, and beautiful silk jumpers and dresses of many varieties.’