Roelands Academy

Turning a traumatic past towards a brighter future

Roelands Village is located on the Collie River, in the Bunbury region, about 155km from Perth, on Seven Hills Road, Roelands. The property was originally established as a farm for Aboriginal families, but by 1941 admitted only Aboriginal children. From 1938 to 1975, Roelands Native Mission Farm, run by a non-denominational Protestant Church association, housed more than 500 forcibly removed children, taken from all over the State. When the Mission closed in 1975, a new facility, called Roelands Village, was opened on the same site by the Churches of Christ Federal Aborigines Mission Board, which ran it as cottage homes for school age Aboriginal children, until 1984. After the property was put on the market in the early 2000s, former residents Les Wallam and Syd Jackson joined with around 50 others to protest the sale. “All us ex-mission kids, we all banded together, even the ones who didn’t like it,” Les said. “There were two parts to it – there is the historical part, but also the potential this place offers, the space, training, employment. We saw a chance for all of us to make good with our past, and to change the futures of our young people too.” The group merged with Woolkabunning Kiaka, an Aboriginal Corporation founded in 1974 by Roelands ex-resident, Allan Kickett, and jointly they lobbied the Indigenous Land Corporation to buy the property. The purchase was made in 2004, with a lease granted to WKI on the condition that it would become self-sufficient. Les Wallam is now CEO of Woolkabunning Kiaka, while Syd Jackson, a footballing legend who won two premierships playing for Carlton, is an Ambassador for Roelands. They and others have converted the old mission into a centre of healing, shifting the bleak history of Roelands towards a brighter future. Les and Syd work with Roeland’s young caretaker, Junior Bulley, to deliver an alternative, culturally sensitive re-engagement program for young Aboriginal people. Today, there are 12 permanent residents at Roelands Academy, which is part of a larger not-for-profit organisation, the Outback Academy, whose mission is to heal, educate and employ. The Academy’s RESPECT program certifies young people in leadership and helps them develop skills in areas such as agriculture, hospitality, carpentry and horticulture. Another goal of the Roelands venture is to reconcile with former residents, and there are plans for a bush tucker trail and memorial garden paying tribute to the 500 children who grew up at the former Roelands Native Mission Farm.

Photos:

Photo collage courtesy of thewest.com.au. From top left: Syd Jackson and Les Wallam at Roelands Academy in 2020; historical images of stolen Aboriginal children at the former mission; Syd in his footballing days with Carlton; restored buildings at Roelands.