The Methodist Church preached its first services in New South Wales in 1812. In the 1880s, faced with a declining congregation in Sydney, the Methodist Conference resolved to try a new style of worship, and opened the Central City Mission. The new church was so popular that, although the Methodist faith survived, the activities of…
The Protestant Orphan School was established in Parramatta in 1850 by the New South Wales Colonial Government. It replaced, and brought together, what had been the Female Orphan School and the Male Orphan School. The Protestant Orphan School housed hundreds of children at a time. It was closed in 1881, after the boarding out system…
The Female Orphan School opened on 17 August 1801 in George Street, Sydney. It first housed 31 girls aged between seven and 14 years old, but by 1803 there were 103 inmates. In 1818, the girls were relocated to a new building on Arthur’s Hill (now Parramatta), and in 1819 the George Street site became…
The Colonial Secretary was an essential position in the New South Wales Government. During the Colonial era (1821 to 1856) the Colonial Secretary supported the NSW Governor and was responsible for advising and receiving instructions from the British Government. After NSW achieved self-governence in 1856 the Colonial Secretary, was responsible for a range of essential…
Ohio Boys’ Home, located in Walcha, was operated by the Church of England (Anglican Church) from 1950. Run by a committee of management, it was a companion home to the Coventry Home, in Armidale, which was for girls. When Ohio Boys’ Home closed in the mid-1960s, its boys were transferred to Coventry Home. In 2012…
The Halloween Children’s Home, on Redmyre Road, Strathfield, was set up around 1926 by a private committee. It appears to have been a girls’ home but may have taken boys. In the mid-1930s state wards were sent to Halloween Children’s Home. It closed around the late 1930s. The Halloween Children’s Home was located in a…
Bimbadeen Girls Home in Cootamundra was established in 1969 by the New South Wales Department of Child Welfare in the buildings that had been used by the Cootamundra Girls Training Home. It housed Aboriginal girls, including some who had lived in Cootamundra Girls Training Home, and also some non-Aboriginal girls. Bimbadeen Girls Home closed in…
Brush Farm Infants’ Home was opened by the Child Welfare Department in 1968. It was at Brush Farm at Eastwood in the Dundas Valley, next to Brush Farm Home. It accommodated 40 infants of both sexes and sometimes older children as well. Brush Farm Infants’ Home closed in 1988 and the Brush Farm property was…
The Eastwood Home for Mothers and Babies was established in 1915 by the State Children’s Relief Board at Brush Farm House in Eastwood. Women and children who had been at the Shaftesbury Home for Mothers and Babies were moved there in 1915. Around 90 mothers and 200 children passed through Eastwood each year until it…
Brush Farm Reformatory was operated by the Department of Public Instruction from 1908 at Brush Farm, Eastwood, in the Dundas Valley. It had been the Carpentarian Reformatory for Boys. Brush Farm Reformatory closed in 1912 when the boys were moved to the Gosford Farm Home for Boys at Mount Penang. Brush Farm is in an…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
