• Entry type: Organisation
  • Entry ID: AWE0979

Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls

(From 1911 – 1986)
  • Occupation Training institution

Summary

Cootamundra Home began as the Cootamundra hospital, in operation from 1897 to 1910, and reopened in 1911 as the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls. It was maintained by the Aborigines Welfare Board until 1968. This was the place where Aboriginal girls were placed after forcible removal from their parents under the Aborigines Protection Act of 1909. The idea was to segregate ‘part-Aboriginal’ children from their families and assimilate them into the mainstream community. The girls were not allowed to remain in any contact with their families, and were later sent to work as domestic servants. The building that housed the Home was later taken over by the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship as a Christian vocational, cultural and agricultural training centre called Bimbadeen College.

Published resources

  • Edited Book
    • The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture, Horton, David, 1994
  • Journal Article
    • Cootamundra Girls Home: Four Eras of Occupation, Kabaila, Peter Rimgaudas, 1995
  • Resource

Archival resources

  • AIATSIS Pictorial Collection
    • Cootamundra Girls Home and former residents
    • Cootamundra Girls Home and former residents
  • AIATSIS Sound Collection
    • Oral history of Cootamundra Girls Home
  • AIATSIS Manuscript and Rare Books Collection
    • Cootamundra : the Aboriginal Girls Home

Related entries


  • Related Women
    • Clayton, Iris (1945 - 2009)