Castledare Boys' Home was a residential college in Wilson, Western Australia owned and operated by the Congregation of Christian Brothers from March 1929 to 1983 and established for the treatment and training of intellectually handicapped children.[1][2] A 1929 newspaper article announcing the opening described it as a "training school for sub-normal boys".[3] It opened with ten boys and under the directorship of Brother G. Hyland. The state psychologist, Ethel Stoneham, travelled to Europe and the United States to study similar institutions and was influential in the design of the home.
Later it had a more general educational and residential focus, accommodating boys from various backgrounds, including child migrants, wards of the state, and orphans.
The first child migrants from the UK came to Castledare in the late 1930s.[6] This ceased temporarily during World War II. Nuns were introduced in 1949, by which time there were 100 primary school children.
The Mother of Perpetual Succour Chapel was constructed in 1957 and blessed and opened by Archbishop Redmond Prendiville. In 1977 the chapel became the parish church of Wilson.
Castledare has a popular rideable miniature railway which is open to the public.[7] It has operated since the early 1960s.
In 1994, the Parliament of Western Australia was presented a petition with 30,000 signatures demanding an inquiry into the sexual and physical assault that took place in various institutions run by the Christian Brothers, including Castledare.[8][9] Other institutions included in the petition were Bindoon, Clontarf and Tardun.
