The Saint John Henry Newman Library (formerly the Catholic Library of Western Australia), located at St. Catherine’s Centre in Doubleview, serves Catholic Education Western Australia Ltd, Catholic School staff, Parishes, Tertiary students and educators, Faith Formation centres, Social Justice agencies, Outreach organisations, Clergy and members of religious orders and the broader community on their spiritual and lifelong learning journey. Membership is free and the library membership is open to all residents of Western Australia who are above 18 years of age.

Our History

The Catholic Library was originally established as the WACE (Western Australian Catholic Educators) Resource Centre in Nedlands in 1973. It was later incorporated into the Catholic Institute in 1976 taking the name of the Catholic Institute Resource Centre.

In 1987 it was given new terms of reference by the WA Conference of Bishops and was reorganised and named as the Catholic Library of Western Australia. As the name implied the new terms of reference heralded an expansion of its role and services to the general Catholic community as well as continuing its earlier mission in serving schools, Catechists and tertiary students.

The WA Bishops decreed in 1999 that the management of the Catholic Library would pass to the Catholic Education Commission and consequently it now operates as a library service within the Catholic Education Centre (now known as Catholic Education Western Australia), whilst also maintaining its original purpose and role.

The Catholic Library of Western Australia was originally located within the Catholic Education Western Australia building in Leederville until 2016, when it was moved to the Newman Siena Centre in Doubleview.

In 2022, the library was relocated to St Catherine’s Centre in Doubleview and renamed as the Saint John Henry Newman Library (view article from The Record magazine).

Our Location

The suburb of Doubleview (named due to its views of both the Indian Ocean to the west and the Darling Range to the east) within the City of Stirling, sits on land known as Mooro Country, home to the Wadjak Nyoongar people for more than 40,000 years. The Mooro are a Nyungar Aboriginal clan, a subgroup of the Whadjuk. Their territory stretches from the Swan River in Perth north to the Moore River beyond the northern limits of metropolitan Perth and east to Ellen Brook.

Doubleview is nearby to Njookenbooroo (Herdsman Lake), which is a significant landmark within the area of Mooro Country. The areas around Njookenbooroo functioned as an important meeting place for Nyoongar people around Perth, as well as being a source of source of water and other resources, including water fowl, turtles and crustaceans with activities such as camping and fishing taking place in the area. A coastal wetlands trail for Nyoongar people extended from the Swan River along a chain of lakes through to Yanchep. The Nyoongar community regards this chain of lakes as “all the same water” and share the ideal “one water, many lakes”.

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