The Probationary Farm Home, Rydalmere was established in 1891 by the State Children’s Relief Board. It was a home for boys who were defined as being too ‘vicious’ or ‘too old’ to stay at the Mittagong Cottage Homes or in the boarding out system. The Probationary Farm Home, Rydalmere was closed in 1894 and the…
The Probationary Farm Home, Branxton was established in the 1890s by the State Children’s Relief Board. It was a home for boys who were defined as being too ‘vicious’ or ‘too old’ to be kept at the Mittagong Cottage Homes, or in the boarding out system. Probationary Farm Home, Branxton closed around 1915. Rather than…
Riverina Welfare Farm for Boys, Yanco was an industrial school, or juvenile detention centre, in the Riverina. It was established at the former Yanco Experiment Farm in 1928 by the Child Welfare Department and held up to 128 boys. It functioned as a training farm and the New South Wales Department of Agriculture trained the…
George Brown College at Haberfield was a hostel used to house 20 Aboriginal children who had been evacuated from Croker Island (Northern Territory) during World War II by the Church Missionary Society. While staying at George Brown College, the Croker Island children attended Haberfield Public School. The evacuees had left by 1946. Claire Henty-Gebert, one…
Dunmore House at Pendle Hill was run by the Churches of Christ as a boys’ home from 1936 until the early 1980s. Dunmore House was opened as a boys’ home by Thomas E. Rofe, conference president of the Churches of Christ, on 5 April 1936. Dunmore House was also the name for the historic house…
Crusaders Camp Mission Hostel at Otford, near Sydney’s Royal National Park, was used by the Church Missionary Society in 1942 to house 98 Aboriginal children who had been evacuated from Croker Island, north of Darwin in the Northern Territory. The evacuees, who were accompanied by the Croker Island Mission staff, were wards of the Commonwealth…
Waterfall Sanatorium was opened on 14 April 1909 in Waterfall as a hospital for the treatment of patients, including children, who had advanced tuberculosis (TB). Patients were sent to Waterfall Sanatorium, often against their will, and were not released until cured. People who died there are buried on the site. Waterfall Sanatorium closed in 1958….
Karmsley Hills was a training farm for youth migrants that was established by the Big Brother Movement at Bossley Park, near Liverpool, in 1947. Between 1947 and 1971 nearly 4,000 young British migrants passed through this establishment. It closed in 1971. The Big Brother Movement purchased Karmsley Hills, which was a 600 acre property, for…
Wanslea, at Bexley, was a residence for around 18 homeless girls of working age that was opened by the Women’s Australian National Services (WANS) in New South Wales in 1944. It was modelled on a Western Australian not-for-profit organisation, Wanslea, that was set up by Western Australian WANS in 1943. Wanslea closed in 1946 and…
Gunning House at Homebush was a hostel for youth migrants that was set up by the Big Brother Movement in 1951. In its first year of operation 61 newly arrived ‘Little Brothers’ were accommodated for lengthy periods. In 1954, 325 young people were accommodated for varying periods during the year. Gunning House closed around 1982….