Orphanage Records (incomplete), CatholicCare Hunter-Manning Social Services

Orphanage Records (incomplete) is an archival series held by CatholicCare Hunter-Manning Social Services. It comprises 11 lever arch folders containing the known surviving records of several of the Catholic orphanages and children’s homes in the Hunter region, including Murray Dwyer Home, Mayfield; Bishop Murray Memorial Girls Home, Maitland; and the Monte Pio Home.

Access Conditions

Any former child client of the Alternate Care programs for which CatholicCare Hunter-Manning Social Services currently holds records may get in touch by telephone or mail and, providing proof of identification can be presented, may view their file in the presence of a social worker from the Foster Care Team.

Records

The records include: Catholic Welfare Bureau Admission Forms (which give particulars of child, particulars of parents, and reason for admission), applications for migration to Australia; notification of reception forms (Child Welfare Department Form 14); personal record cards (which include name, date and place of birth, parents’ names, health and immunization record, date of admission and discharge and reason for admission); baptism and confirmation certificates; Commonwealth Department of Social Security ‘Advice of discharge of child from institution’ and ‘Advice of admission of child to institution’ forms. It must be remembered that these records are incomplete, not all of the information listed above survives for every child and records do not necessarily survive for all children.

Quantity: 11 lever arch folders

Finding Aids

The information is accessed via a database which has been created by Centacare staff. The database allows a surname search to be conducted and, if there are any surviving records for that name, it provides the cross reference to the original records.