Please contact the Child Migrants Trust:
Postal Address: 169 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122
Phone: 1800 04 05 09
Quote this number to access your records: State Library of Victoria Accession Number, YMS 15774
These records are held by State Library of Victoria (1854 - current).
The Northcote Trust Fund Records are a collection of records created by the Australian trustees of the Northcote Trust, held by the State Library of Victoria. The Northcote Trust was established in 1936 following a bequest in the will of Lady Alice Northcote. The bequest was used to establish the Northcote Farm School for child migrants.
The 40 boxes of records relate to the running and management of the Trust in Australia, and also contain information about individual children sent to the Northcote Farm School, Principals’ reports, staffing at the school, and correspondence from former Northcotians who stayed in touch with the Trust into adulthood.
The collection includes some individual files for children sent to the Farm School, and in some cases include initial application information, reports on the child while at the Farm School, medical reports, correspondence with parents and holiday families, photographs, employment records, education certificates, reports of marriage and pregnancy, correspondence with the children after they left the Farm School. However, there are few full case files for the children at the Farm School, although there are also mentions of children in the administrative records.
In 1977, Old Northcotians were sent a letter from the Trust stating that their dependents would qualify for assistance from the Trust and some people took them up on the offer with their children receiving grants, and applications for assistance by children of Old Northcotians are included in this collection.
The collection also contains publicity materials such as brochures and newspaper clippings, statistics regarding children sent from England and on what ships, and statistics from 1960 regarding state wards at the Farm School.
The collection also includes records about the initial establishment of the Trust and the provisions of Lady Northcote’s will, acquisition of the land for the Farm School and construction of buildings on the site, minutes of Trustee meetings, financial ledgers and statements and correspondence with the English trustees of the Northcote Trust Fund.
Records about or mentioning children are restricted to access for those people and their families. Access to these records is provided by the Child Migrants’ Trust. Access to non-restricted records is available through the State Library of Victoria.