Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1918-01-01 - 1955-01-01 (Creation)
Level of description
Medium
Format
Status
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
In 1886 the Public Health Act established the Central Board of Health, which was responsible for the Local Boards of Health and all public health matters. It was referred to from about 1904 as the Public Health Department.
The Public Health Department and the Medical Department (which was mainly concerned with hospitals) amalgamated on 1 October 1906 under the Principal Medical Officer, Dr Lovegrove, who also became President of the Central Board of Health.
The Public Health Act of 1911 created the Department of Public Health under a Commissioner of Public Health responsible to a Minister of the Crown. The title of Principal Medical Officer was also retained. The Public Service Lists show the Department as being amalgamated until 1955. From 1956-1979 Medical and Public Health are shown as separate departments. In 1979 they were again amalgamated and on 30 April 1981 they split into the Public Health Department and the Department of Hospital and Allied Services. On 1 May 1984, the Public Health Department, the Department of Hospital and Allied Services, and the Mental Health Services amalgamated once again as the Health Department of Western Australia.
Repository
Archival history
Content and structure area
Scope and content
These records comprise 'inmates' cards which list the names of individuals admitted to the Old Men's Home/Sunset Home (Nedlands) and the Old Women's Home. Against each person's name, the cards record an inmate file number. The year of the file number provides an indication of the year each individual was admitted to the home/s. It is however believed that the inmate files to which the cards refer no longer exist. The cards contain no other information about the inmates.
More complete admission/discharge information for the Old Men's Home/Sunset Home may be found in the records listed at Record Series 1930 (Admission and Discharge Cards), 2525 (Admission and Discharge Registers), 2526 (Admission Registers) and 2527 (Discharge/Death Registers). It should however be noted that the Index Cards record some names of individuals which to which there is no existing Admission Cards, particularly for the period prior to the 1940's. It is possible that the Admission Cards are incomplete and as such, the Index Cards may be useful for confirming that an individual was admitted to the Old Men's Home/Old Women's Home as far back as 1918. No further records recording patient admission information for the Old Men's Home for the period 1906 (when the Home was established) to 1918 are believed to exist.
The cards in this series comprise two sets: one for males admitted to the Old Men's Home/Sunset Home (Nedlands) and one for females admitted to the "Old Women's Home". As women were not admitted to Sunset Home until 1965 and the cards refer to female admissions as far back as 1918, it is not entirely certain which Old Women's Home is being referred to, although it is probable that it is the Home that was located in Fremantle (the former Fremantle Asylum).