Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls, Former Aboriginal training institution in Cootamundra, Australia
Cootamundra Domestic Training Home, known as Bimbadeen, is a heritage-listed building in Cootamundra, New South Wales, that housed a home and training institution for Aboriginal girls from 1911 to 1968. The site later became Bimbadeen College, a Christian vocational, cultural and agricultural training centre run by the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship.
The home was established as part of government assimilation policies that removed Aboriginal children from their families to teach them domestic service skills for employment in non-Indigenous households. This practice formed part of a broader strategy to suppress Indigenous identity and culture.
The home represents a painful chapter in Australian history when Aboriginal children were forcibly separated from their families, language, and cultural practices. Today, the site serves as a place of remembrance and healing for communities affected by these policies.
The site is in Cootamundra, New South Wales, and is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register. The Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation, formed in 2013, is responsible for restoring the home. The building later served the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship as Bimbadeen College, a Christian vocational, cultural and agricultural training centre.
The site's name "Bimbadeen" was kept when the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship reopened the building as Bimbadeen College, a Christian vocational, cultural and agricultural training centre. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 17 February 2012, and the Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation, formed in 2013, is responsible for restoring the home.
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