The Salvation Army ran a 'rescue home' for young women and teenage girls in Boulder from 1904 to around 1914. It provided an alternative to gaol or an industrial school for girls and young women who were charged by the Police or Children's Courts. Neglected children, young women 'rescued' from the streets and people committed for other offences all seem to have been taken into the Rescue Home at Boulder. Parents also placed children there, to benefit from the 'reforming influences'. It was located in Burt Street, Boulder in a large house, 'Ellerslie'.
The 1903 annual report of the Salvation Army's 'rescue work' was delivered in the Kalgoorlie Miners' Institute Hall on 22 June. The report acknowledged the help of 'their friend, Mr. Ralph Potts, for the block of land he had been instrumental in getting for them in Kalgoorlie, and they hoped at an early date to get a home started locally'. The 1903 edition of the Western Australia Post Office Directory (p.16) shows that the house, 'Ellerslie' previously owned by Mr J. Hopkins was located on Burt Street near the intersection with Thompson Street in Boulder City.
The Salvation Army's submission to the Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care in 2003 identified the Boulder City Rescue Home as operating from 1904 to possibly 1908. However, it seems more likely that it continued until 1914. A newspaper report in 1911 says that Lady Edeline Strickland was visiting the Salvation Army Homes while in the goldfields, suggesting the Rescue Home and the Home for Girls were both operating at that time. The 1914 Post Office Directory shows a rescue home still operating in Kalgoorlie (Staff Captain Ward). The 1915 Post Office Directory shows that Matron Thomas was in charge of the Rescue Home at Kalgoorlie, but she was Matron of the Girls' Home so it is uncertain whether the Rescue Home was still open in 1915.
Sources used to compile this entry: 'The Western Australia post office directory', 1893-1949, http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/explore-discover/wa-heritage/post-office-directories. The 1914 and 1915 Post Office Directories give some insight into the possible end dates for this Home.; 'Salvation Army Rescue Work', Kalgoorlie Western Argus, 23 June 1903, p. 36, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32674697; 'Salvation Army Rescue Home', Kalgoorlie Miner, 21 April 1904, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90118079; 'Items of news [Boulder Rescue Home]', Kalgoorlie Miner, 6 April 1905, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89131797; 'Items of news [Boulder Rescue Home]', Kalgoorlie Miner, 27 March 1905, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89131178; 'Items of news [Boulder Rescue Home]', Kalgoorlie Miner, 3 April 1905, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89131593; 'A girl in trouble', Kalgoorlie Miner, 8 January 1907, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89671239; 'Items of news [Salvation Army Homes, Kalgoorlie and Boulder]', Kalgoorlie Miner, 8 September 1911, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91320405; Salvation Army Australia Eastern Territory and The Salvation Army Australia Southern Territory, 'Submission No. 46, The Salvation Army Australia Southern Territorial Headquarters (VIC), Attchments, Appendix A, The Salvation Army Australia Southern Territory Childrens Homes, A list of openings, closings and function', in Submissions received by the committee as at 17/3/05, Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care, Parliament of Australia website, Senate Community Affairs Committee, Commonwealth of Australia, July 2003, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist.
Prepared by: Debra Rosser
Created: 17 February 2013, Last modified: 12 November 2018
Last updated: 17 October 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE00917b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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