Retta Dixon Home


The Retta Dixon Home was an institution for Aboriginal children in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia from 1946 until 1982. It was located on the Bagot Aboriginal Reserve.

History

The Retta Dixon Home was established in 1946 by the Aborigines' Inland Mission. In 1941 an AIM representative was invited to Bagot Aboriginal Reserve to take charge of 'part-coloured' or 'half-caste' Aboriginal women and children. With the outbreak of World War II the then superintendent, Miss Shankelton, evacuated 72 children to Balaklava in South Australia in 1942. Upon returning to Darwin in 1946, the AIM set up the Retta Dixon Home as an institution to provide care for these children.
The Retta Dixon Home was destroyed by Cyclone Tracy and is now a vacant block. A memorial plaque marks the location where the home once stood. It reads:

This plaque is in recognition of Aboriginal children displaced from mother and country. Karu Park accommodated a children's institution named Retta Dixon Home. Similar institutions were established at Kahlin, Garden Point, Croker island and Groote Eylandt. This plaque is dedicated to the memory of those children and their mission workers.

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Allegations of child sexual abuse at the Retta Dixon Home were investigated at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2015. Ten former residents gave evidence, describing their experiences of rape, molestation and abuse at the home. The findings released on 19 August 2015, found that AIM "did not meet the obligations that it had to children in its care, including protection from sexual abuse". The Commissioners found that AIM did not provide sufficient training to its staff on how to detect or respond to allegations of child sexual abuse. As a result of an out-of-court settlement, 71 people were awarded compensation.