Celebrating Sorry Day at Cranbrook Place – Dame Quentin Bryce with local Indigenous elders
The Sorry Site at Hill End Terrace, West End has been formally named Cranbrook Place with the installation of a plaque on a quarry stone.
The name is in memorial to Cranbrook House which was built in 1885 as a private residence. It was later purchased by the State Government to become a hostel for aboriginal girls from 1899 to 1906, when it was closed due to public outcry. The girls were employed as domestics for wealthy white families.
The front stairs of Cranbrook House can still be seen on the site heading down the slope toward the roof of the rowing club.
This section of Orleigh Park was recognised as a Sorry Site by former Lord Mayor Jim Soorley and a plaque, seat and flagpoles were erected on the site. Since that time, the Aboriginal organisation has held a memorial breakfast for the stolen generation on this land in May each year.
The aboriginal community have been referring to this place as Cranbrook Place at these events.
It is a fitting name to record the significance of this land for aboriginal people.
