A Royal Commission was appointed to examine the State Children Department and Charities Department, and report on “the working and management thereof, and any improvements which ought to be made in such working and management” (Final Report, Royal Commission on State Children’s Department and Charities Department, p.2). The commission held 42 sittings and examined 77…
This collection of eight photo albums was assembled by the Wheatbelt Aboriginal Corporation’s Mogumber Heritage Committee with the intention of creating a pictorial archive of the Moore River/Mogumber settlement. The albums include lots of photographs of the children, adult residents, and staff of the Moore River/Mogumber settlement, many of whom are identified by name. The…
The Western Australian government’s Standing Committee on Environment and Public Affairs commenced an inquiry into past forced adoptive policies and practices on 22 February 2023. The impetus for this inquiry was a petition with 318 signatures, presented by Jennifer McRae and tabled in the Legislative Council on 15 November 2022. The terms of reference for…
Model legislation to harmonise adoption laws in all Australian jurisdictions was an initiative of the Australian Commonwealth in the 1960s. One pressing issue behind this move towards uniformity in adoption legislation in Australia was the lack of recognition of interstate adoption legislation. Jurisdictions all took different approaches to maternal consent and to processes such as…
Visit to Australia of Major-General Hawthorn, director and secretary of Fairbridge Society is a file held by the National Archives of Australia. It is part of the correspondence files of the Commonwealth Immigration Department. It contains information about the activities of the Fairbridge Society in Australia. Access Conditions Open access. Records The hard copy file…
Adoption is the legal process by which a person legally becomes a child of the adoptive parent(s) and legally ceases to be a child of his/her existing parent(s). The first adoption law to be passed in Australia was in the Colony of Western Australia in 1896, and other jurisdictions followed with their own legislation. However,…
Annexe is a term used to describe a smaller residential facility that is part of a larger institution. For example, the Victoria Park (Riverbank) Annexe was part of the youth detention facility, Riverbank, even though it was located many miles distant. Click here to see the full Find & Connect glossary
The Children’s Homes Files collection is a collection of records about Western Australian Salvation Army-run Homes, now held by the Salvation Army Historical Records Department. The files include documents, photographs, newspaper articles and correspondence relating to children’s Homes run by the Salvation Army in WA. There are no personal records held in this series but…
Private Hostel was a term from Western Australia to describe a place that provided residential accommodation for people with intellectual disabilities which was not operated by or on behalf of the Western Australian or Commonwealth government. Private hostels were licensed by the Minister for Health and could be funded and regulated by government. The term…
Custodial Care describes a model that was historically used on many people with intellectual disabilities or mental illness. In a custodial care model, a person was not given any treatment to help them improve from their condition at admission. Many children with intellectual disabilities in psychiatric hospitals up to the 1960s suffered as a result…
May 3, 2024
Apr 24, 2024
