Presbyterian Sisterhood Home

The Presbyterian Sisterhood established a maternity Home in North Fitzroy in 1909. Previously, it had run a refuge in Warrnambool, in western Victoria. The Presbyterian Sisterhood Home housed single mothers and their babies. In 1953, the Mary Dickens Hospital Wing, a small maternity hospital, was added to the Home. The Home operated until around 1978.

The Presbyterian Sisterhood established a maternity home in 1909, situated at 223 McKean Street, North Fitzroy. The Home, for unmarried mothers and their babies, operated until the late 1970s.

In 1926, the Sisterhood reported that more than 1,000 mothers and babies had passed through the Home at North Fitzroy.

In 1927, Miss KL Foster was the deaconess in charge of the Sisterhood Home.

In 1952, the Sisterhood announced its plans to build a small maternity hospital at the Home. The Mary Dickens Hospital Wing was opened in May 1953.

An article from 1954 stated that the Presbyterian Sisterhood Home in North Fitzroy had accommodated 1500 girls. It reported that ‘girls’ stayed at the Home for a period of 6 months. During that time, they were taught mothercraft by Matron LG Envall, as well as housekeeping and craft work ‘so that they may take up work when they leave the home’ (The Age, 1954).

The Uniting Heritage Service holds the records for admissions into the home and children born to women residing in the home

The Presbyterian Sisterhood Home was mentioned in the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices Inquiry (2012) as an institution that was involved in forced adoption.