Our Health and Medical Topsy Smith Hostel honours a selfless and inspirational First Nations woman who spent much of her life caring for children of the Stolen Generations, at a school known as ‘The Bungalow’ in Alice Springs.
Topsy Smith Hostel has provided accommodation for First Nations medical and renal patients in Alice Springs NT, since 1978.
Originally a general medical facility, the hostel was repurposed to focus on renal patients coming into Alice Springs to receive dialysis treatment following an extensive redevelopment.
The hostel’s name was changed in 1984 to Topsy Smith Hostel, to recognise and acknowledge Arabana woman Topsy Smith, a legendary figure of Central Australia in the early to mid-1900s.
After her Welsh miner husband died in the Arltunga Goldfields in 1914, Smith walked 100 kilometres while pregnant, to Alice Springs with 7 of her children.
When they arrived, she and her children lived in a tent and later moved to a corrugated iron shed. Later on, it became a school called The Bungalow, for local Aboriginal children. Smith managed the school, under rough conditions and cared for the children as if they were her own.
During this time, she secured education, health and sanitation improvements.
In 1914, the South Australian Education Department advertised for a female teacher in Alice Springs. Ida Standley took up the challenge and made the journey to Alice Springs.
Standley and Smith worked closely together at the Bungalow for many years and also became primary carers of children who were forcibly removed from camps and stations under the 1911 Ordinance.
Conditions at The Bungalow were extremely poor, despite the women’s considerable efforts to improve the facility. The Bungalow was relocated out of town in 1928 to Jay Creek, which required Smith, Standley and 45 children to walk 47 kilometres to the new site. Unfortunately, they also faced poor living conditions at the Jay Creek location.
The site moved once again to the Old Telegraph Station in 1932. The Bungalow was mentioned in the Bringing Them Home report (1997) as an institution that housed First Nations children removed from their families.
Standley was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in November 1929 for her services. Sadly, unlike Standley, Smith never received any formal recognition for her efforts, nor was she paid a salary. As a tribute to her lasting legacy and achievements, we are proud that her name can live on at AHL.
Providing a home away from home for people experiencing health challenges has always been a priority for AHL.
Given their ongoing dialysis treatment needs, many residents at this hostel stay for extended periods of time, ranging from several months to over a year, only returning to visit their home communities if and when they are able to travel. It’s therefore important for us to provide a comfortable, homely environment.
Being only 2 kilometres away from Alice Springs Hospital and with clean and homely amenities such as a fire pit, barbeque area and TV room, Topsy Smith Hostel is a place to relax and recuperate.
Having moved to Alice Springs from communities elsewhere in the Northern Territory and as far away as South Australia, men and women often spend time together around the fire pit at Topsy Smith, sharing stories of growing up in their home communities.
Those communities include Kintore, Yuendumu, Amata, Tennant Creek, Pukatja (Ernabella), Indulkana, Kiwirrkurra and Pipalyatjara.
‘I get to do my art work — I paint water colours, like Namatjira, he is my family. We come from different language groups, but it doesn’t matter, we are all family.’ AHL resident, Topsy Smith Hostel, NT.
At the end of the 2023–24 financial year, Topsy Smith had a 93% occupancy rate, demonstrating the continued high demand for our support in the Alice Springs region.
To find out more, please visit our Topsy Smith Hostel page.
Above image:
Top left: Topsy Smith 1874–1960 – pictured second from the left. (Source: Library and Archives NT).
Top middle: Band of The Bungalow, Alice Springs (Source: National Archives of Australia)
Top right: Another view of The Bungalow, Alice Springs (Source: National Archives of Australia)
Bottom left and middle: Topsy Smith Hostel residents.
Bottom right: Topsy Smith Hostel today.