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Community Services Department

The Community Services Act (also known as the Community Welfare Act) came into operation on 1 July 1972. it established the Community Welfare Department (Agency 39), later the Department for Community Services (Agency 40), then the Department for Community Development (Agency 590), then the Department for Family and Children's Services (Agency 904), then the Department for Community Development (Agency 1213) and now split into two agencies, the Department for Communities (Agency 1574) and the Department for Child Protection (Agency 1504).

Other acts abolished the Child Welfare Department (Agency 38) and transferred its functions to the Community Welfare Department along with the welfare functions of the Department of Native Welfare (Agency 48). The records of the Department, which are listed in AU WA S1099 (AN 320), the Series Registration System and the State Records Office Catalogue, contain information on children and Aboriginal people, the most important being Registers of inmates of various missions, Registers of inmates of various hostels, and reports on the inmates of missions and hostels.

Also check headings Aboriginal People and Missions in Government Archival Records and Aboriginal People in Private Archives.