Aboriginal Women's Home, North Adelaide

The Aboriginal Women’s Home opened at North Adelaide in 1926 as a boarding house for Aboriginal women and children. The Adelaide Central Mission ran the Home with financial assistance from the government. The Home accommodated up to 22 women and children, many from country areas who were in Adelaide for medical treatment. The Home closed in 1975 and its functions were taken over by the Klemzig Family Home.

The Aboriginal Women’s Home opened in Sussex Street, North Adelaide in 1926. The property, which was previously the old City Mission Hall, was owned by the Adelaide Central Mission. The Mission proposed that the building be used as a boarding house for Aboriginal women and children, particularly those from country areas, coming to the city for medical treatment.

The Adelaide Central Mission and the Aborigines Department worked together to refurnish the old Mission Hall and the new Home opened on 29 June 1926. The government subsidised the running of the Home, covering the cost of board and lodging while members of the Adelaide Central Mission took responsibility for food preparation and general management. The Aborigines Friends Association was also involved, with a representative on the Advisory Board of the Home.

Most of the women who came to the home were from the Far North and West. However, the Home also provided shelter for local Aboriginal people in emergency situations. A full-time matron was employed as well as other domestic staff.

The home was still operating in the early 1970s when it came under the control of the Department for Community Welfare. At that time the Department reported that up to 22 women and children and seven babies could stay in the home at one time.

The Aboriginal Women’s Home closed in 1975 and its functions were taken over by the Klemzig Family Home. By 1981 the former Women’s Home building had been leased to the Aboriginal Lands Trust.