| St Joseph’s Girls’ Orphanage |
| Years of Operation | 1901 - 1972 |
| Role Of Facility | Residential care for girls, including Wards of the state, child migrants and private admissions. |
| Sponsoring Agency | Sisters of Mercy |
Other facilities in
Signposts that are
related to the
Sponsoring Agency | See the entry “Sisters of Mercy” in the earlier section of Signposts, “Non-Government Agencies and their Subsidiary Institutions” |
| Address(es) | 18 Barrett Street, Wembley |
| Aliases | Catherine McAuley Centre (from 1969) [see entry]; Mercy Community Services, MercyCare [see entry under Catherine McAuley Centre]. |
| Brief History | “A Piece of the Story”, the National Directory of Records of Catholic Organisations Caring for Children Separated from Families - link at www.cssa.org.au/storage/A%20Piece%20of%20the%20Story.pdf - indicates that the Sisters of Mercy came to WA in 1846 and “began planning for the education of the children of the colonists. By 1853, four distinct but intertwined educational establishments were operating at Victoria Square, Perth. One of these was St Mary’s School for Aboriginal Girls, which received a special grant from the Governor. While the care of Aboriginal girls gradually ceased over the next decade, the care of white destitute children continued. In 1868 the Catholic girls in the government poor houses were entrusted to the care of the Sisters of Mercy. The Roman Catholic Girls’ Orphanage operated from Victoria Square, Perth until the service transferred to Subiaco in 1901, under the name of St Joseph’s Girls’ Orphanage.”
The site in Subiaco (now Wembley), where the Catherine McAuley Centre and St Vincent’s Foundling Home and chapel still stand, was previously occupied by the Christian Brothers’ St Vincent’s Orphanage for Boys prior to their move to Queen’s Park (now Waterford) to what is now Clontarf [see separate entry in Signposts for Clontarf].
The Battye Library (call no. ACC1800A) contains a microfilm record comprising the register of the Roman Catholic Girls’ Orphanage, 1868-1890, various notes to 1912, and a sketch of the mission in 1846.
Following World War 2, from 1947, unaccompanied migrant girls from the UK and Malta were sent St Joseph’s or St Vincent’s Foundling Home [see separate entry in Signposts for St Joseph’s Orphanage], which were located on the same campus.
In 1969, the campus was renamed after the founder of the Order of the Sisters of Mercy, Catherine McAuley [see separate entry in Signposts] service gradually changed from one that was based around the campus, to a suite of services that were largely community-based.
A limited chronology of the major events at St Joseph’s, including admissions and discharges, is included in Table 41. |
| Records | Admission registers are available for 1868-1928.
Case records post-1979.
Maintenance registers 1901-1948 and 1958-1972
Committal warrants to 1951
Baptism Certificates to 1972 (those for the 1950’s are missing)
Social security payments records 1960’s (those for the 1970’s are missing)
Ailments register 1915
Former child migrants can also access information held on the Personal History Index (PHIND) |
| Access | While access to records is restricted to protect the privacy of individuals, people are encouraged to enquire. |
| Contact Details | MercyCare Heritage & Information Service
PO Box 202, Wembley WA 6913
Telephone: (08) 9442 3444
Email: recordinfo@mercycare.com.au
Web: www.mercycare.com.au
For information about children placed by the Child Welfare Department:
Freedom of Information
Department of Communities
Locked Bag 5000, Fremantle WA 6959
Telephone: (08) 6217 6888
Country free call: 1800 176 888
Email: foi@communities.wa.gov.au
Website: www.communities.wa.gov.au
For people wishing to access the Battye Library’s collection of historical material:
The State Library of Western Australia,
Alexander Library Building, State Cultural Centre, Perth WA 6000.
Telephone: (08) 9427 3111 (local) or 1800 198 107 (WA country callers)
Facsimilie: (08) 9427 3256 Email: info@liswa.wa.gov.au
Opening hours for the Battye Library at time of publication are:
Monday-Thursday 9am-8pm; Friday 9am-5:30pm;
Saturday/Sunday 10am-5:30pm |
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