Dalwood Children’s Home, at Seaforth, was a home for mothers and babies set up by the Food for Babies Fund in 1924. In 1931 it began to provide temporary accommodation for children. In 1989 Dalwood stopped operating as a children’s home. Non-residential programs continue on the site, in 2024 it is known as the Dalwood…
Mittagong Cottage Homes were established from 1885 by the State Children’s Relief Board. They were houses that each held 20 children, ranging in age from infancy to adolescence. The first were in the Mittagong township but in 1896 they moved to the Southwood Estate on Bong Bong Road, where further cottages were added. The cottages…
The Renwick Hospital for Infants was opened at Summer Hill by the Benevolent Society in 1921. It replaced the previous Renwick Hospital for Infants at Thomas Street in Sydney and was a lying-in hospital and a hospital for children whose parents could not afford to pay for their medical care. Renwick Hospital at Summer Hill…
The Prince of Wales Hospital was established in 1953 as an annex of Sydney Hospital and is on the Randwick Campus of the South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Health Service. This campus includes Sydney Children’s Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Women. The Prince of Wales Hospital holds records of a number of maternity hospitals…
Royal Far West, also referred to as Royal Far West Scheme and Drummond Far West Home, was set up in Manly in 1924 as a holiday home, to enable children from far western New South Wales to escape the conditions of the outback by holidaying by the sea. Over the years it has evolved to…
South Sydney Women’s Hospital was a maternity hospital that provided midwifery and maternity care, particularly to poor and unmarried women. It was founded in Newtown (Camperdown) 1905 by George and Louisa Ardill and the Sydney Rescue Work Society and had been the Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen Women. It trained midwives and was…
St Margaret’s Hospital was established in Strawberry Hills [Surry Hills] in 1894 as a lying-in home, by a religious community led by Gertrude Abbott. It grew and became a maternity hospital, lying in home and provided midwifery nursing training. In 1910, St Margaret’s moved to Darlinghurst. From 1937 was run by the Sisters of St…
The Queen Victoria Hospital for Women and Babies in Annandale was founded by George Lewis in 1895 and run by Matron Attenborough from 1896 until 1924. It catered to both married and single mothers. Many children of single mothers were adopted from the Hospital. In 1930 it temporarily moved to Herbert Street, Dulwich Hill before…
The Mater Misericordiae Hospital for Women and Children was a maternity hospital established at Crows Nest by the Sisters of Mercy, North Sydney Congregation, in 1906. In 1910 the Mater moved to North Sydney. It cared for mothers who were unmarried, and destitute before and after the birth of their babies. Babies for adoption were…
The Royal North Shore Hospital was established in 1885 at St Leonards. It was a general hospital and took maternity cases. Many adoptions were arranged from Royal North Shore Hospital and it holds the adoption records of the nearby Mater Misericordiae Hospital. The Royal North Shore Hospital continues in 2013 to meet the health needs…