[3][4] Many Aboriginal secondary school students have been able to achieve tertiary qualifications through the experience gained at a Kirinari hostel.
The other Kirinari caters for boys who attend Cardiff High School in the city of Newcastle.
The founder of ACAS was Hazel Wilson; with six other ladies from Gymea Congregational Church and the Member for Hughes, Leslie Johnson, she formed the Aboriginal Children's Advancement Society at a public meeting held in the Miranda School of Arts, in February 1963.
The principal aim of the Society, the building of a hostel to enable Aboriginal children to attend high school in the city, was accomplished within four years.
The first stage of Kirinari Hostel was opened on National Aborigines Day, July 1967.