| Nazareth House, Bluff Point, Geraldton |
| Years of Operation | 1941 – 1977 as a residential child care facility. Continues operations today as an Aged Care Service. |
| Role Of Facility | Initially, the purpose of the facility was to care for migrant children from Britain. However, World War Two intervened in this purpose and the Sisters concentrated their efforts on providing residential care for private admissions of children and also the elderly. After the war, migrant children from Britain and Malta were accommodated. Indigenous children who were classified as “Native Wards” were also accommodated at Nazareth House.
When the Welstat (national welfare statistical collection) definitions were applied in 1979, there were a range of other facilities, operated either by the Department or non-Government agencies, which were defined as “Other Homes for Children”. Nazareth House was defined by this category. Such a definition referred to “a residential child care establishment that is mainly for children aged under 15 and/or still at school, and that consists of either a single dwelling that is not a family group home, or two or more dwellings that share cooking and eating facilities” and which were not (detention) Institutions or Hostels. |
| Sponsoring Agency | Sisters of Nazareth |
| Address(es) | Bluff Point, Geraldton |
| Brief History | “A Piece of the Story”, the National Directory of Records of Catholic Organisations Caring for Children Separated from Families ( www.catholicsocialservices.org.au/publications ) indicates that the Sisters of Nazareth provided residential care to boys and girls from birth, and to migrant girls.
Nazareth House remains open in 2010, but as an Aged Care facility.
A more detailed chronology of major events, admissions and discharges is included in Table 30. |
| Records | Admission and discharge registers and some additional information. Former child migrants may also contact the Department to access PHIND, the Personal History Index for Former Child Migrants and the Department’s Child Migrant Referral Index. |
| Access | While access to records is restricted to protect the privacy of individuals, people are encouraged to enquire. |
| Contact Details | Sister Superior, Sisters of Nazareth,
PO Box 3247, Bluff Point WA 6530.
Telephone: (08) 9923 5000
Facsimile: (08) 9923 5055
Email: reception@nazarethhouse.com.au |
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