A History Of Orphanages And Children's Institutions In Subiaco.
This post provides a brief background on the history of orphanages and children's institutions in Subiaco for the next post about Winnie an Aboriginal girl who found herself in St. Joseph's Orphanage in 1946 after being kicked by the pet cow in south of Western Australia.
This history is from the document 'Aboriginal Histories in the City Subiaco' produced for the City of Subiaco in 2008 (Jebb, M. A. & Stella, L.). No copyright infringement intended.
"Orphanages and children's institutions in Subiaco
From 1850-1950 many instutionalised Aboriginal children were sent to New Norcia Mission. Bishop Salvado, who established New Norcia, played a major role in the promotion of ideas which in the Industrial Schools Act of 1874. The Act prevented parents from demanding the release of their 'native and half cast' children from any part of the colony to New Norcia until they were 21 years of age.
New Subiaco, the Benedictine Monastery closely linked to New Norcia, was build in 1859 over looking Hersmann's Like in Ruislip Street, now in the Wembley and West Leederville area. In 1872 it became the St Vincent's Boys' Orphanage. It had 25 acres of olives and vineyards, which provided an opportunity to teach the boys horticultural skills.
The Sisters of Mercy came to WA in 1846 and in about 1848 established St Mary's School for Aboriginal Girls, at Victoria Square Perth. In 1868, eleven girls between the ages of 4 and 10 years were moved to the Convent of Mercy and in 1871 the old building became the St Joseph's Girls' Orphanage. In 1876, after an outcry about the treatment of a child at St Vincent's, the Sisters of Mercy took charge of the establishment. St Vincent's also took children who had been convicted of criminal offences and both it and the St. Joseph's Girl's Orphanage took children who had only parent who could not care for them. In some cases, children were maintained at the orphanage by a parent.
In 1874, St Vincent's Boys' Orphanage was taken over by the Christian Brothers who had arrived in Perth in 1894. They built a new orphanage at Clontarf, which they occupied in 1901, at which time the girls were transferred from Perth to the Subiaco establishment, which was under the control, at this time, of Mother M. Benedict Murphy. Extracts of stories from Aboriginal people who were at St Josephs and other institutions in the area of Leederville and Subiaco in the 1930s and 40s were referred to in the Aboriginal Legal Service report Telling Our Story.
In 1933 the government opened Sister Kate's Children's Home in Victoria Park especially for Aboriginal children who were fairer skinned. Children who were considered too 'dark' to be absorbed in European society were left at Moore River Settlement or removed to Missions in the north and eastern goldfields."
References
Jebb, M. A. & Stella, L. 2008. 'Aboriginal Histories in the City of Subiaco. City of Subiaco' : Subiaco W.A. 
