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LEFT: This is the scene 13 months ago as the Sisters of St John said f arewell to the old building before taking up temporary residence at the Franciscan Retreat House in Victoria park, itself
Nun-ioer C' 371
P cii I H, WA: FEEsHUARY 24— MARCH 1, 198e
now up for auction on
ADDRESS 26 John Street, Perth, WA, 6000
March 8.
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Nuns Schools confront new children's problems move to a new base TELEPHONE: (09) 328 1388
rn The Sisters 1--lof Saint John have this week been coming home to their historic Subiaco location to take up residence in a new 52 bed hospital which s tands on the s i te of their f ormer 80 year old convent that a t its peak had been home to some 200 sisters b ut could no l onger serve t heir present needs.
SAST R "F R E L. Schools are confronted with the problems of catering for children who attend from disastrous home circumstances, according to the chairman of the Inquiry into Education in Western Australia, Mr
Sister Rupert (left) welcomes Sister Carthage who had just arrived from Warrnambool on Wednesday morning, watched by Sister Florence who is in charge of the hostel.
14/41( • Mons Bourke memorial fund scholarship, page 2 • Help centre for Armadale, page 3 • Catholic lawyer for meetings on Aboriginal land rights, page 3 • Protecting WA church history, page 4 • Baptism picture of Premier's new son, Parish Pump. page 16
PRICE 40 cent!
• Subiaco church refurbished, page 5
Kim Beazley. Mr Beazley has used the term "children in disaster" to describe t he plight of some school children. He said disaster could arise from poverty and various compounding a nd aggravating difficulties. There was evidence same children suffered from sexual abuse and assault at home. Mr Beazlev was outlining some of his personal observations. He said there was impressive evidence of schools in some places in Western Australia and elsewhere working to make big gains in achieving mutual understanding between teachers and parents and prestige and relevance of school to children. Mr Beazley said in the course of the inquiry he had encountered children who suffered from: • poverty • alcoholic parents • lack of encouragement at home because the
KIM SEAMY discusses the plight of children whose home circumstances put them at a severe disadvantage in education (reprinted from Education News).
parents did not understand education. • homes totally devoid of reading matter and intellectual stimulus • being sent to school unfed and generally malnourished • indifference of parents t o whether children attended school or not • a home environment not conducive to study • language difficulty • unfamiliarity with the dominant culture • lack of any real prospect of employment. There were Aboriginal children who suffered all 10 of these factors of
disadvantage, and in addition some children (not in this case Aboriginal) who suffered from sexual abuse and assault at home. There had been evidence to the inquiry of children telling teachers and lecturers of sexual abuse at home. The children did not take official action because they feared reprisals. Trachoma, deafness from respiratory infection a nd brain damaged caused by pre-natal alcoholic intake of the mother could be additional problems, affecting especially
Gore refutes claim
Aboriginal children. In all parts of Australia there had been a sharp decline in Aboriginal school attendance which might be the result of: • increased mobility of the Aboriginal population now some owned buses. trucks and cars • an idelogical opposition to schools as instruments of "Europeanisation• disappointment that education had not led to employment and inducement once offered • humiliation implicit in inability to handle an insufficiently relevant form of education.
Only hours before his trial was about to begin this week Father Brian Gore rejected a claim by the Philippines Ambassador to Australia that he was meddling in the internal politics of another country. On a radio interview with the ABC on Wednesday he said the government had asked priests to look after the people and this is what he was doing. He said the Philippines government can't have its cake and eat it. A sked about the Canberra embassy claim he had been asked to leave, Father Gore said to walk out would be an admission of his guilt. It would be the easy way out and he was not going to desert his fellow workers, he said. Father Gore said that reported warnings to the foreign media to cease interviewing him on the case showed how sensitive the government was to the criticism -- principally because they knew that film can't lie.