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 Hospital for Women is a maternity hospital that was established at Paddington in 1901 by the Benevolent Society. It was designated the Royal Hospital for Women in 1904 and a new building opened in 1905. The Royal Hospital for Women organised many of the adoptions of babies in New South Wales. Since 1992…
Crown Street Women’s Hospital was established in Hay Street in 1893 and moved to Surry Hills in 1897. It was a public women’s and maternity hospital. In addition to being a general women’s hospital, Crown Street accommodated many single mothers, including state wards and Aboriginal wards, and its staff arranged a high proportion of New…
Bethesda Home for Waiting Mothers was established by the Sydney Rescue Work Society in Camperdown. It was a lying-in hospital that had been part of the Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen Women but became Bethesda when South Sydney Women’s Hospital opened. This home was not related to Bethesda Maternity Hospital at Marrickville. Bethesda…
The Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen Women was a refuge and rescue home founded in Sydney in October 1883 by George Edward Ardill of the Sydney Rescue Work Society. From 1890 it was based in Gilpin Street (Stanley Street) Camperdown and was a lying-in home for unmarried pregnant women who were waiting to…
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…
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…
533The 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…