Moore River Native Settlement

It was originally intended to be a small, self-supporting farming settlement for 200 Aboriginal people, with schooling and health facilities available for the children and employment opportunities for the adults.

The settlement was supposed to accommodate Aboriginal people drawn mainly from the Murchison, Midlands and south-west regions of Western Australia.

[2] During the 1920s its purpose shifted; residents were usually brought there against their will as the camp attempted to fulfill the broader functions of orphanage, creche, relief depot and home for old persons, unmarried mothers, and the unwell.

Neville adopted Underwood's anti-mission stance and between them developed the "native settlement scheme", devised to meet the varying demands of non-Aboriginal people, for their segregation from the wider community and the continuing need for Aboriginal labour.

Socially, Moore River Native Settlement practised strict segregation of the sexes and separated children from their parents under the dormitory system.