Archives



Sunnyfield School

Sunnyfield School, also known as Sunnyfield Children’s Home, was a special school for children with intellectual disabilities at Manly Vale. Children stayed over the school holidays, so it also functioned as a disability institution. It was started by the Sunnyfield Branch of the Sub-Normal Children’s Welfare Association, which became the Sunnyfield Association in 1956. It…

The Special School for Multi-Handicapped Blind Children

The Special School for Multi-Handicapped Blind Children was set up by the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children in 1974 at North Rocks. It was a school with medical, therapeutic and residential facilities for children with a range of disabilities and was extended in 1980. It operated until 1990, when it became the Alice…

New South Wales Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind

The Deaf and Dumb Institution, founded in 1860, was renamed the New South Wales Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind in 1868. It was a public institution for the education of deaf and blind children and had a residential facility for school-aged children. Initially based at Ormond House (Juniper Hall) in Paddington, the Institution…

Royal Institution for Deaf and Blind Children

The Royal Institution for Deaf and Blind Children was the new name given to the Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and the Blind in 1957, when Queen Elizabeth II conferred the title ‘Royal’ on the Darlington school and residential facility. The Institution moved to North Rocks in 1962 and the old building was acquired by…

Deaf and Dumb Institution

The Deaf and Dumb Institution was founded in Sydney in 1860 by Thomas Pattison, a deaf migrant from Scotland, to provide education to deaf children. It started as a private school, with a residential facility, in Liverpool Street, near South Head Road. It then moved to Castlereagh Street and was officially declared a public institution…

St Thomas More’s School

St Thomas More’s School was a private special school located at Linden Lodge, Linden in the early 1940s. It was set up by Marva Temple, who had been Principal of Moresland Special School in North Springwood. Temple was Catholic and supported by clergy, but did not receive funding from the Catholic Church or charities. The…

Moresland Special School

Moresland Special School was a private residential school for children with disabilities located at North Springwood during the 1930s. Its principal, Miss Marva Temple, a Catholic teacher who had strong support in local Catholic networks, later founded St Thomas More’s School in Linden. Marva Temple was highly educated and an activist around the education of…

Inala Rudolf Steiner School for Curative Education

Inala Rudolf Steiner School for Curative Education was a residential special school for school-aged children at Cherrybrook. It was opened on 1 November 1958 on a five-acre property by Dr Hans Joachim and Mrs Kyra Pohl, along with a group of parents seeking accommodation support for their children with intellectual disabilities. It closed in 2005….

Miroma Special School

Miroma Special School was a Steiner School located in Vaucluse from 1966 to 2010. It was established by Susan Haris, a teacher who had trained at Inala in Cherrybrook. It is not clear when Miroma stopped providing residential care to children but by 2010 it was primarily offering services to adults with intellectual disabilities and…

Kingsdene Special School and Residential Service

Kingsdene Special School at Telopea provided schooling and residential care to children aged 10-18. It was run by Anglicare, who described it as being for children and young people with “moderate to severe intellectual disabilities”. It closed in 2010 due to a lack of funding to continue operations. At the time of closure Anglicare stated…