Banner Credit: Bennett House prior to its demolition in 1998 (East Perth Redevelopment Authority Archive)
Bennett House was remembered by many Noongar storytellers as a ‘holding pen’ for stolen generation children and adults coming and going to and from country areas to Perth.
It stood on the corner of Bennett and Royal Streets East Perth from the 1930s until its demolition in 1998. It was first used as the head masters quarters for the nearby East Perth State School. In 1931, it became the 'East Perth Half-Caste Girls Home' and was used by the then Aborigines Department to house Aboriginal girls from the missions sent to Perth to train and work as domestic servants. Boys and girls of mixed parentage also boarded at the hostel on their way to and from their birthplaces and homes, missions, and foster homes.
In the 1980s, the building was leased to Aboriginal Hostels and was renamed the Jack Davis hostel. It was sold in 1998 and demolished as part of the redevelopment of East Perth.
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Marie Pryor
Gallery
Robert Bropho watching the demolition of Bennett House, 1998. (Guardian Express, November 3-9, 1998).
Bennett House before its demolition in the 1990s (State Library of Western Australia)
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