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Western Australia - Glossary Term

Orphanage

Categories
Type of 'care'

Orphanages run by voluntary organisations were a prominent feature of the Perth and regional landscape from the late 1860s to the early 1980s. To those on the outside they stood as sites of benevolence, evidence that the city honoured its obligations towards children in need, but for those who were the objects of such charity they could also be sites of deprivation and abuse. From the outset, the orphanages in WA sought to develop children into capable and industrious servants or labourers and children were placed out to service when they reached 14 or 16 years of age.

Publications

Books

  • Davies, Kate, When innocence trembles : The Christian Brothers orphanage tragedy, a survivor's story, Kapak Publishing, Norfolk Island, 2004. Details
  • Hetherington, Penelope, Paupers, Poor Relief and Poor Housing in Western Australia 1829 to 1910, UWA Publishiing, Crawley, Western Australia, 2009. Details

Book Sections

  • Hetherington, Penelope, 'Orphanages', in Gregory, Jenny and Jan Gothard [editors] (eds), Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia, University of Western Australia Press, Crawley, W.A., 2009, pp. 655-657. Details

Reports

  • Annual report of the State Children Department, State Children's Department, [Perth, W.A.], 1908-1927. 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927. Details
  • Western Australia. Child Welfare Department, Annual Report of the Child Welfare Department, Child Welfare Department, Perth [W.A.], 1928-1972. Details

Online Resources

Sources used to compile this entry: Hetherington, Penelope, Paupers, Poor Relief and Poor Housing in Western Australia 1829 to 1910, UWA Publishiing, Crawley, Western Australia, 2009; 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.

Prepared by: Debra Rosser