Tresillian Wollstonecraft, or Carpenter House, was a Tresillian Mothercraft Home that was established in 1940. It was a mothercraft training home for nurses and, by the 1960s, housed around 200 mothers and 260 babies during the course of a year. In 2012 Tresillian Wollstonecraft was still providing services to mothers and babies from Carpenter House.
Tresillian Wollstonecraft began when Sir Walter Carpenter gave his property on Shirley Road to the State of New South Wales to be used as a rest home for new mothers. It was handed over to Tresillian and called Carpenter House.
From the 1950s to the 1970s a number of unmarried pregnant women were sent to Tresillian Centres by social workers from Sydney hospitals. The women were paid as domestic help, and worked around the homes. At the time social workers considered this was a better option than working in private households or commercial laundries. These women were not patients, but staff, and no records of their work survives.
From
1940
To
Current
Alternative Names
Carpenter Home
Carpenter Mothercraft Home
Carpenter House
1940 -
Tresillian Wollstonecraft was located at 25 Shirley Road, Wollstonecraft, New South Wales (Building Still standing)