The Boomerang Youth Hostel, Geraldton began in 1979 as accommodation for Aboriginal youth attending the Geraldton Technical School. By 2005, the hostel accommodated up to 20 Aboriginal youth on a short-term basis. The youth hostel closed in 2011 and reopened in 2012 for people of all ages.
The Boomerang Youth Hostel was called the Aboriginal Boomerang Council Youth Hostel when it was established in June 1979 in Geraldton. It took over a building previously run by the government as the Geraldton Boys' Employment Hostel at 97 Gregory Street. The Aboriginal Boomerang Council Inc, which originally ran the hostel, deregistered in 1997.
By 1999, the Boomerang Youth Hostel was managed by Yanay Yenma Aboriginal Corp. Inc. Yanay Yenma may have taken over operation of the hostel directly from the Aboriginal Boomerang Council Inc, but this cannot be confirmed at present.
In 2010, the Boomerang Hostel was described as a hostel with a long tradition of Indigenous control that had been supported for some years by the Aboriginal Hostels Limited Community Hostels Grants Program. At this time, the Boomerang Hostel was 'auspiced' by the Bundiyarra Aboriginal Corporation.
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Government Gazette of Western Australia No. 55', in Western Australian Government Gazette Online Archive, State Law Publisher of Western Australia, 31 August 1979, https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/prod/gazettestore.nsf/FileURL/gg1979_055.pdf/$FILE/Gg1979_055.pdf; Aboriginal Hostels Limited - Annual Report 1999-2000, Aboriginal Hostels Limited, Woden, ACT, 2000, http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/59950/20070721-0001/www.ahl.gov.au/pages/images/9900annual.pdf. p.78.; Aboriginal Hostels Limited - Annual Report 2004-05, Aboriginal Hostels Limited, Woden, ACT, 2005, https://web.archive.org/web/20110312022400/http://www.ahl.gov.au/images/AHLannualReport0405.pdf. pp.46, 136.; Aboriginal Hostels Limited - Annual Report 2009-10, Aboriginal Hostels Limited, Woden, ACT, 2010, https://web.archive.org/web/20110312021855/http://www.ahl.gov.au/pdf/Annual_Report/813309%20Annual%20Report%20Text.pdf. pp.60,63.; 'Boomerang Hostel', in Bundiyarra Aboriginal Community Aboriginal Corporation, Bundiyarra Aboriginal Community Aboriginal Corporation, 2013, https://web.archive.org/web/20150309062635/http://www.bundiyarra.org.au/index.php?page=boomerang_hostel.
Prepared by: Debra Rosser
Created: 30 October 2013, Last modified: 23 June 2014
Last updated: 17 October 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE01195b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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