A SLICE of Cootamundra’s history, the Aboriginal Girls Training Home, has been immortalised with the recent announcement the home will receive the highest level of heritage protection in NSW.
Whatever people’s views might be on the stolen generation, the State Heritage listing is an honour for the girls and those associated with the home.
A small committee has been battling for close to 10 years for the home, which is located in Rinkin Street and now known as Bimbadeen, to be heritage listed.
Local Wiradjuri elder Bob Glanville, who has been a supporter of getting the home heritage listed for the past decade, said he was humbled when he received a phone call last week giving the official word that the home has been added to the State Heritage Register.
“It is magnificent to see the home, where the whole establishment is over 100 years old, to be listed,” Mr Glanville said.
He said the advantages of the site being listed are endless including the recognition the girls who were sent to the home deserve as well as acting as a tourist attraction for Cootamundra.
“As with every house, building and historic site ongoing maintenance is needed, now that the site has been heritage listed hopefully it will be easier to receive funding to maintain the former girls home as an historical site,” Mr Glanville said.
He said with the home set to celebrate its centenary in August, this milestone adds another reason to celebrate.
Plans are well underway for the centenary and to have a special monument erected at the former girls home marking the centenary and the heritage listed honour.
Mr Glanville said the Girls Home Centenary Organising Committee is currently in negotiations with Cootamundra Shire Council to have some sort of memorial monument erected on the grassed area near the Cootamundra Post Office.
“By having two memorials, one at the girls home and one in town near the post office means more people will be aware of the home and the important part of history associated with the Aboriginal people,” Mr Glanville said.
Mr Glanville has his own close connections with the girls’ home through his mother the late Iris Glanville, who was the cook at the home for many years.
Only two years ago, Mr Glanville found out his grandmother, the late Melinda Bell was taken from her family during the Stolen Generation era.
“My grandmother was taken at the age of 13 from the Brungle Mission and was sent to Sydney then sent back to Brungle when she was 17 years.”
History
After the girls were sent to the home, which operated from 1912 to the 1970s they were then trained as domestic workers.
The home was maintained by the Aborigines Welfare Board until 1968.
This board was abolished in 1969 and was passed into the care of the NSW Department of Youth and Community Service.
The home officially closed in 1974 and in 1979 the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship Bimbadeen College took on the running of the site.
Home girl thoughts
Former home girl Mrs Elaine Randall was thrilled to hear the news about the heritage listing.
Mrs Randall received a phone call early Thursday morning informing her of the news she was so excited to hear.
“I was thrilled when I heard the news that the home had been heritage listed, Cootamundra is a special place and will always be my home.
“We have been laughing and crying and celebrating the good news,” Mrs Randall said.
She said can’t wait to come back to Cootamundra in August to celebrate the centenary of the girls home.
Ms Randall was sent to the home in the 1950s as a young child from Grafton, NSW and was schooled at the home through her childhood and teenage years.
Ms Randall left the home at 19 when she was sent to work on properties near Temora and Junee.
Well over 100 Aboriginal girls who were sent to Cootamundra will attend the centenary celebrations coming from all over Australia.
The home in Cootamundra is one of three homes including Bomaderry and Kinchela to be recently added to the State Heritage Register.
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