Marella Aboriginal Temporary Care

Marella Aboriginal Temporary Care, was a programme for Aboriginal children run by Church of England Homes on behalf of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. Marella Aboriginal Temporary Care was a family group home for 8 children aged between 6 and 14 years old, located in Marrickville and staffed by Aboriginal people. It opened at Harney Street, Marrickville in 1979, then moved to a property on Frampton Street, Marrickville (which had previously been used as the Havilah Group Home) in 1984, and finally moved to Shearer Street, St Clair in 1989 before closing in December 2000.

Marella Aboriginal Program was sponsored by the Sky Pilot Foundation and Marella Mission Farm Ltd, which were not-for-profit organisations headed by Keith Langford Smith. They had run Marella Mission Farm, which was a foster home for Aboriginal children.

By the 1980s Marella was running as a family group home for Aboriginal children. In 1984, in its newsletter Care, Church of England Homes described the purpose of its group homes:

Cornwall [Cornwell], Buckland, Havilah and Marella are our Group Homes which provide longer term care. Perhaps the children aren’t getting normal care at home. Maybe they have missed out on it for a long time. These homes provide a kind of holding situation. But one which avoids damaging them still further by providing them with a good model of a positive family-type experience. Meanwhile, everything possible is being done through the counselling service to restore family relationships. Hopefully, after six months, usually sooner, the family can get back together or foster placement can be arranged. Two of our homes are for Aboriginal children. They are managed and staffed by Aborigines and are the first of their kind.

At the time, Church of England Homes employed a team of social workers to work with the family and help communications between parents and children, as well as provide counselling and short-term financial support, if needed.