Belhaven Home for Mothers and Babies, in Bellevue Hill, was a babies home developed by Sydney businessman LO Bailey in 1942 and run by the Youth Welfare Association. Approximately 200 unwed or widowed mothers gave birth at Belhaven or sought assistance there. Bailey also gathered babies from nearby maternity hospitals. In all, 86 babies remained…
Hopewood, in Bowral, was a children’s home operated by the Youth Welfare Association of Australia (YWAA), which was founded by Leslie Owen Bailey. Bailey gathered 86 babies from unmarried mothers from 1942 until 1951 and raised them at Hopewood, and at smaller institutions in New South Wales, using his principles of ‘natural health’. Hopewood closed…
The United Aborigines Mission (UAM) was established in 1929. Formerly, it was known as the Australian Aborigines Mission. Its missionaries were active in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia, where the UAM established missions as well as institutions for children. All UAM children’s Homes had been shut down by the early 1980s. The…
Bomaderry Aboriginal Children’s Home, located near Nowra, was established in 1908 by the United Aborigines Mission. It was a home for children aged under 10 and ran until 1988. As the longest-running Aboriginal Children’s Home in NSW and the first Home to be established for Aboriginal children in NSW, it has been called “the birthplace”…
Scarba House for Children at Bondi was the new name given in 1965 to what was previously called Scarba Welfare House for Children. It was run by the Benevolent Society of New South Wales and was a home for babies and small children. During the 1970s it developed a range of early childhood programs. Scarba…
Scarba Welfare House for Children at Bondi was run by the Benevolent Society. Previously it known as the Scarba Welfare House for Women and Children as it also provided accommodation for mothers together with their infants. From around the end of 1920 Scarba was a home for babies and small children, most of whom were…
The Scarba Welfare House for Women and Children at Bondi was opened in 1917 by the Benevolent Society of New South Wales as a home for women and babies. In 1920, the Board of the Benevolent Society decided to devote Scarba entirely to the care of young children and the name was changed to Scarba…
The Thomas Street Asylum was established by the Benevolent Society of New South Wales in 1904. It was the only hospital in the city for destitute and homeless mothers nursing their infants. The Asylum also cared for orphans and foundlings who were usually discharged to the care of the State Children’s Relief Department. In 1911…
The Renwick Hospital for Infants was opened in 1911 by the Benevolent Society. The building had been the Thomas Street Asylum, but was converted to a babies’ hospital to deal with the epidemics of gastroenteritis that hit crowded Sydney streets in summer. It had 60 cots and also appears to have catered to lying-in mothers….
The Benevolent Asylum, run by the Benevolent Society of New South Wales, was opened in 1821 by Governor Macquarie. It issued poor relief and took in the poor, destitute, disabled and aged but its main focus was pregnant women and children. The Benevolent Asylum closed in 1901 as the land was resumed by the government…