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Renwick Hospital for Infants, Summer Hill

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…

Eastwood Home for Mothers and Babies

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…

Carramar

Carramar, also called Carramar Maternity Home and Carramar Hostel, was an Anglican home for unmarried mothers at Turramurra. It was run by the Home Mission Society and at its peak held up to 27 women. Mothers who kept their babies were sent to a post-natal cottage at Berowra. Its staff also arranged adoptions and the…

Myee

Myee, also known as Myee Babies’ Home and Myee Hostel, was established in 1926 in Arncliffe and run by the Child Welfare Department. It was a home for babies and up to 16 young unmarried expectant mothers who had been committed by the Children’s Court to state care. Some mothers retained their babies after they…

Montrose Maternity Hospital

Montrose was a house in Burwood that was turned into a maternity hospital and infants’ home in 1920 by the State Children’s Relief Department, caring for unmarried mothers and their babies, and infants who were state wards. By 1936 it had been converted to Montrose Hostel by the Child Welfare Department. Montrose was one of…

Corelli Hospital for Women

Corelli Hospital for Women (known as ‘Corelli’) was opened in Marrickville as a home for mothers with babies and expectant mothers by the State Children’s Relief Board in September 1919. In its first year it housed 41 mothers with 39 children, for an average of four months. By the 1930s it seems to have served…

South Sydney Women’s Hospital

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 Home for Unwed Mothers

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…

Queen Victoria Hospital for Women and Babies

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…

Mater Misericordiae Hospital

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…