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In 1925, St Anthony’s Home moved from Petersham to Croydon. It was a Home for unmarried pregnant women and accommodated them and their babies for up to 12 months after the birth, as well as infants and children. Sister Kathleen Burford’s history of the Home states that mothers and their babies lived in the Home free of charge for a year: “at the end of that period, they were free to leave, when they could take one of three options: leave the baby, or take it with her, or adopt it to the home” (Burford, 1989, p.7). St Anthony’s Croydon was run by the Society of St Vincent De Paul until 1952. The Sisters of St Joseph took over the management of the Home in 1952 and developed a range of programs including adoption services, mothercraft nursing, foster care and cottage homes. In 1980, St Anthony’s transitioned into providing foster care in a cottage environment. The new premises in Croydon were Humberstone Mansion, previously used by Wychbury Grammar School and was then known as Wyc

St Anthony’s was opened in 1922 by the Society of St Vincent De Paul, first in St Peters, and then in Petersham. It was not intended to provide long term residential care. Several hundred adoptions and foster placements were arranged from Petersham. In 1925 the home became St Anthony’s Home Croydon. St Anthony’s was developed to ensure that Catholic infants and children, especially those born to unmarried “girl-mothers” (Burford, 1989), were not lost to the Church by fostering or adoption into non-Catholic families. In 1916 Brother Denis Haugh, President of the Central Council of Sydney’s Society of St Vincent De Paul, was concerned that Catholic babies and infants were being lost to the Church and in 1921 formed the ‘Stray Children’s Committee’ to find Catholic foster homes and placements. Rev Father J.M. Cusack of St. Francis’, Albion Street, Surry Hills and Archbishop Kelly decided there was a pressing need to care for unmarried mothers who were turning to non-Catholic institu

South Sydney Women’s Hospital was a maternity hospital that provided midwifery and maternity care, particularly to poor and unmarried women. It was founded in Newtown (Camperdown) 1905 by George and Louisa Ardill and the Sydney Rescue Work Society and had been the Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen Women. It trained midwives and was a place where adoptions were arranged. It closed in 1976. South Sydney Women’s Hospital began as the Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen Women. The Home of Hope was established by George Edward Ardill in the 1890, in Newtown (Camperdown) as a rescue home and lying-in facility for unmarried pregnant women. When Ardill incorporated the Sydney Rescue Work Society in 1890 the home became a flagship of the new organisation. Ardill’s wife Louisa was the matron of the lying-in home and was a pioneer of midwifery. The Home was renamed South Sydney Women’s Hospital in 1905. It became one of the most important midwife-training hospitals in Sydney, and pr

The Margaret Hallstrom Home for Unmarried Mothers opened in Marion Street, Leichhardt in 1968 by the Central Methodist Mission. The exact closing date of the Margaret Hallstrom Home for Unmarried Mothers is unknown, but it is believed to have closed around 1977. The need for a new Home for unmarried pregnant women was identified in 1964 by LifeLine. The Central Methodist Mission acknowledged the need for more support, and said it would build a new Home as soon as it had the funds. It was reported in 1967 that “The Wesley Women’s Fellowship has taken on a mammoth job of raising $2500 per year to buy and equip a home for unmarried mothers…The home has already been purchased…”. In 1968 the Home was opened by the Central Methodist Mission. Upon the death of his wife, Margaret Hallstrom, in 1968, Sir Edward John Lees Hallstrom donated $22,000 to the Central Methodist Mission to cover the costs of establishing the Home. The Home was originally named Pinaroo, but was renamed in dedi

Annual Report of the Sydney Female Mission Home is a collection held by the State Library of New South Wales. It is an incomplete collection of the annual reports of the Sydney Female Mission Home dating from 1873 to 1908. Access Conditions These records are open and accessible to any member of the public via the State Library of New South Wales reading room. For access to these records please contact the State Library of New South Wales.

The Infants’ Home, Ashfield, Records is three collections of records created by The Infants’ Home between 1874 and 2002 and held by the State Library of New South Wales. These collections consists of registers and lists of resident children, children’s admission and discharge information, child health records, family records files, historical and operational records and minutes. Access Conditions Former residents of The Infants’ Home or members of their families can apply to The Infants’ Home to be provided with copies of their records. Physical access to The Infants’ Home’s historical records is not permitted due to the fragility of the material and the need to protect confidentiality of other people mentioned. Applications can be made via a form on the ‘History’ page of The Infants’ Home website. Records The records are held in three separate manuscript collections at the State Library of New South Wales as the records were transferred at three different times –

The Admissions Register of the Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen Women (South Sydney Women’s Hospital) are two volumes of registers. The registers contain pre-printed forms requesting personal details of pregnant women who were admitted. Details on the firms include the mother’s medical history, current circumstances, and additional notes relating to outcomes after the mother and child were discharged from the Home. According to Professor Lynette Russell, archivist of the Nursing History Research Unit, these were retrieved from a rubbish pile at Rozelle Hospital and donated to the Nursing History Research Unit. Professor Russell believes all other records of the Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen Women have been destroyed. The Admissions Register for Home of Hope was held by the Nursing History Research Unit was in the custody of the Nursing History Research Unit before being transferred to the State Library of New South Wales. The registers contain limited information a

Earlier this month, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) delivered its final report, including 94 ‘calls to action’. Two of these refer to Aboriginal peoples’ ‘inalienable right to know the truth about what happened and why, with regard to human rights violations committed against them in the residential schools’. What is this right to know the truth?Read More…

If you, or your family member, was a ward of the state, it is likely that there are some government records about their time in ‘care’. For detailed information about accessing ward records, see Searching in Your State which explains the system in each jurisdiction. Wardship records were created and kept as administrative records, and generally relate to matters such as court appearances, police records, admissions and discharges from institutions or foster care placements and maintenance payments by parents. During most of the twentieth century, wardship records were very bureaucratic. People accessing their records can be shocked and

This is a photograph of some of the resident cottages at Fantome Island. It shows five small wood-framed huts with tin sheet roofs and shuttered windows, approximately 2 by 3 meters in size. The huts are all built on concrete slabs, and surrounded by sand. There is a large hill in the background.

This is a photograph of buildings on Fantome Island. The photograph was taken from offshore, and shows a red and white church and several other single-storey buildings situated just back from the beach at Fantome island. This photo is part of a collection of  photographs of North Queensland taken by Dr Ted Freeman and held by City of Townsville library.

The State Records Office of Western Australia was established in 2001, following the passing of the State Records Act 2000. It is the key repository for government documents in Western Australia. The state archives collection includes records that might be of interest to people who were in out of home care as children. These records can be found throughout the collection, as many government agencies were involved in child welfare activities. The State Records Office of Western Australia holds records created by the Colonial and State Governments, as well as Local Government authorities in Western Australia, which it retains permanently. State archives include files, maps, architectural drawings, documents, microforms, sound recordings and electronic records. The holdings of SROWA can be accessed in the reading room via appointment, with exception of those records with restricted access. Permission from the creating government agency, or its successor, must be granted before restrict

Please contact Queensland State Archives: Postal Address: PO Box 1397, Sunnybank Hills QLD 4109 Phone: (07) 3037 6777 Email: info@archives.qld.gov.au Website: https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/arts/heritage/archives/contacts

This is a photograph of the hospital at the Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement. It shows a large single-storey cottage-style building with two front-facing verandahs. The building is set back from a road lined with stones. Several people can be seen standing on the verandahs, and another man can be seen standing in gardens to the side of the building. This photograph was taken by Edward Michael Hanlon on a tour of North Queensland during his term as Queensland Home Secretary. It is part of an album that contains other images taken at Palm Island, Yarrabah, Fantome Island, and Mona Mona mission. The photo was originally captioned as ‘Native Hospital, Palm Island Settlement’.

This is a photograph of the Lock Hospital at Fantome Island. It shows two medium-sized buildings near the beach, with several smaller buildings and sheds nearby. The photograph was taken from gardens on a small hill inland from the hospital, looking towards the beach, with Orpheus island in the background. This photograph was taken by Edward Michael Hanlon on a tour of North Queensland during his term as Queensland Home Secretary. It is part of an album that contains other images taken at Palm Island, Yarrabah, Fantome Island, and Mona Mona mission.

This is a photograph of the Girls’ dormitory at the Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement. It shows a wide, single-storey building with open front verandahs. The building is set among palm trees, and there is a road bordered with white stones running in front of it. Two girls or women are walking in front of the dormitory, and a man wearing a suit is standing next to a palm tree close to the photographer. This photograph was taken by Edward Michael Hanlon on a tour of North Queensland during his term as Queensland Home Secretary. It is part of an album that contains other images taken at Palm Island, Yarrabah, Fantome Island, and Mona Mona mission.

This image was originally titled “Seaforth Boy’s Home circa 1948”, and was from the Salvation Army Heritage Museum WA. The description of the photo included the information: “the typed caption reads in part, ‘Seaforth Boy’s Home – circa 1948 I counted 73 boys + driver.'” and that the photo was originally called “Young Australians”. In 2025, the Find & Connect web resource was contacted by a former resident of both Seaforth Boys Home and the Salvation Army Home in Nedlands, who identified this photo as being taken at Nedlands not Seaforth. It is also likely this photograph was taken in the 1950s, not around 1948 as initially identified. With the closure of the Salvation Army Heritage Museum WA in 2023, the whereabouts of the original photograph are unknown. The Salvation Army Museum in Melbourne holds a digital copy of this photograph however no additional information is attached to it.

The Royal Derwent Hospital was established in 1968 when Millbrook Rise Psychopathic Hospital and Lachlan Park Hospital merged. It was in New Norfolk. In 1968, a new complex opened on the eastern side of the Lachlan River. The Royal Derwent Hospital closed in 2000. In a 1944 report, Dr Catarinich, Victoria’s Director of Mental Hygiene, condemned the buildings of Lachlan Park as too crowded, old-fashioned, unhygienic, and structurally unsound to carry out modern therapies. He recommended a new mental hospital and abandonment of the site. In 1949, a Parliamentary Standing Committee, appointed to comment on Dr Catarinich’s findings, recommended that a new hospital be built on the eastern side of the Lachlan River using land bought in the nineteenth century to extend the hospital’s pastoral and agricultural activities. Construction began in the 1950s. The new hospital opened in 1968. The former Lachlan Park site on the western side of the Lachlan River did not close. Instead residents

The Church of England Boys’ Society Training Farm was established in 1937 in Lysterfield. It was first managed by The Rev. R.G. Nichols, and in 1942 was taken over by the Church of England Boys’ Society (Cebs). In 1945, the Farm moved to Yering. At this time, the institution was known as St Hubert’s. In 1950, the Training Farm was transferred to Burton Hall at Tatura, and the Yering property was sold. The Church of England Boys’ Society Training Farm was originally situated at Lysterfield. The land was purchased in 1935 by The Rev. R.G. Nichols who was organiser and honorary secretary of the farm from 1937. In 1937, Nichols said that ‘boys are trained for eight months in all departments of mixed farming. They are then placed in employment at 15 shillings a week and keep’ (The Argus, 6 July 1937). Nichols handed over management of the Training Farm to the Church of England Boys’ Society (Cebs) in 1942. When Cebs took over the Farm, there were 40 boys in residence there. At

The collection at Child and Family Services Ballarat dates from 1865. It includes records of Ballarat District Orphan Asylum, Ballarat Orphanage, Ballarat Children’s Homes, Ballarat Orphanage Boys’ Hostel, Ballarat Children’s Homes and Family Services, and Ballarat Female Refuge. The records relate to children who were placed in these residences. The types of records include admission book registers, individual files (from approximately 1930’s on), committee minutes, photographs, short films, and other memorabilia. Access Conditions Care leavers (and their families) wanting to find information about their time in care, or access personal files can contact Child and Family Services Ballarat (Cafs). In order to release records you will be asked to provide proof of identity. Preferably some form of photo ID with a signature, and where your name has changed, some form of verification of that change, e.g. marriage certificate. Where photo ID is not available, alternative forms

‘Mowanjum picnic 1969’ is an image published in Mowanjum: 50 years community history (p.106). The caption reads, ‘Going for a picnic from Old Site in 1969 on the trailer pulled by the old Massey Ferguson tractor known to the children as Bug Bug because of the slow putt putt of the engine’. The image shows approximately 15 people, mostly children and teenagers, sitting on the bed of a ute driving along a sand track. One of the passengers is playing a guitar.

‘Mowanjum community gate 1970s’ is an image published in Mowanjum: 50 years community history (p.115). The caption reads, ‘Mowanjum front gate, 1973-74’. It shows a tall metal gate with a left-hand and right-hand entrance/exit over a red sandy road, with ‘Mowanjum Community’ written in red letters on white signage. A few buildings are just visible through the trees behind the gate.

This is a copy of a photograph that appears on p.17 of a publication, “Forest Hill Residential Kindergarten 1926-1976”. It shows the building that was on the site before it was replaced in 1936.

The Forest Hill Residential Kindergarten opened in 1960. It provided short-term residential care for up to 20 children, and day care for smaller groups of children, aged 2 – 6 years during times of family stress or breakdown. From 1927, there was a “holiday home” on the site, where children from inner city kindergartens came for short holidays of a couple of weeks to improve their health. During the epidemic of 1937-38, the Home accommodated children convalescing from polio. The Forest Hill Kindergarten’s residential program ceased in 1988. Affiliated with the Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria, Forest Hill was maintained by the Graduates’ Association of the Kindergarten Training College in Melbourne. The Association purchased the property in Forest Hill in 1926, and established a ‘holiday home’ for children in need. A newspaper article from 1936 described the origins of the holiday home. It stated that the director of a kindergarten in Melbourne’s poorer inner suburbs, “distressed

This is a copy of a photograph from the collection of the Whitehorse Historical Society, showing the nursery at Forest Hill Residential Kindergarten.

The Westbrook Training Centre, run by the government, was situated at Westbrook, 15 kilometres south west of Toowoomba. It operated as a reformatory for boys under the age of 18 who were confined by a court order. It was previously known as the Farm Home for Boys, Westbrook and in 1966 the name was changed to the Westbrook Training Centre. In 1987 the name was again changed to Westbrook Youth Centre. Boys under the age of 18 years were sentenced by various courts to a term of confinement at the Westbrook Training Centre. The Home was overseen by a Supervisor who reported to the heads of the relevant Department. The boys received training in farm skills while learning to work the Home’s farmland. They learned how to farm, garden and keep stock. Stock was often exhibited at the annual Toowoomba Show. Produce from the farm was sold, and the boys were allowed to keep the profits from their individual gardens. Regular maintenance work of the buildings at the Home was also undertake

The Wolston Park Hospital, situated at Wacol, Queensland, was a State-run facility. Wolston Park Hospital was previously known as the Brisbane Special Hospital, and sometimes was referred to as Goodna. It is known that children who were wards of the state were placed at Wolston Park during the 1960s-1980s, despite the existence of Wilson Youth Hospital and Karrala House, dedicated institutions for children and young people deemed to have mental health issues . It is estimated up to 60 wards of the state were sent to Wolston Park, usually as a transfer from a Queensland children’s institution or from Lowson House, an adult ward within Brisbane Hospital. From around the 1950s to the 1980s, juvenile “delinquency” was seen as a psychiatric as well as moral issue. As Chynoweth writes, “For decades, child protection polici

Winlaton, in Nunawading, was established in 1956 as Victoria’s main state-run institution for adolescent girls. Previously (from 1951 to 1953) the building was a Home, also called Winlaton, run by the Mission of St James and St John. Winlaton Juvenile School received its first placements in 1956. Many female juvenile offenders were committed to Winlaton by the courts; however, throughout its history Winlaton housed many girls and young women who had not committed a crime. Winlaton had a training school, and by 1959 it also housed a reception centre (Winbirra) and a hostel (Leawarra). In 1991 it was renamed the Nunawading Youth Residential Service. The Winlaton home run by the Mission of St James and St John from 1951 was taken over by the Children’s Welfare Department in 1953. That year, the Department’s annual report stated that: … during the year it was decided to erect at “Winlaton”, Nunawading, a training and rehabilitation centre for delinquent girls. In three se

The Girls’ Memorial Home, in Fairfield, opened in 1922. It was a maternity home run by Wesley Central Mission. A toddlers home also operated within the home. Many of the young women’s babies were transferred from the Girls’ Memorial Home to the Methodist Babies’ Home in South Yarra. In 1973, it became Georgina House, a refuge for victims of domestic violence. It was later converted for use as aged care accommodation. The Girls’ Memorial Home, a maternity home run by Wesley Central Mission, opened in 1922 in Fairfield. Funds for the purchase of the property came from money inherited by Dr Georgina Sweet from her father. The home was situated in ‘Carmelea’, a building in Station Street, Fairfield that had formerly been the home of chocolate manufacturer, MacPherson Robertson. The Memorial Home was a maternity home for single pregnant women. A.J. Derrick, the organising secretary of the Central Mission, noted that the Home ‘would not actually bear that name’, but would be known a

Tufnell Home, in Nundah was operated by the Society of the Sacred Advent and the Corporation of the Synod of the Diocese of Brisbane. The Tufnell Home formally opened 6 February 1901. It accommodated boys and girls from various backgrounds. The first family group units were officially opened in 1969. Funding ceased in 1990 and the home closed in 1993. The Tufnell Home opened on 6 February 1901. Children from the adjacent Home of the Good Shepherd, Nundah were transferred to Tufnell Home. With funds donated by Mrs Tufnell (the widow of Edward Wyndham Tufnell, the first bishop of Brisbane), a Chapel of the Good Shepherd was erected at Tufnell Home. In 1927 a boys’ wing, laundry and recreation room were built. A new dining hall was erected next to the main house in 1932. The foundation stone for the Tufnell Toddler’s Home, which was co-located on the site, was laid by the Archbishop of Brisbane on 23 June 1946. In 1965 the Diocese of Brisbane began plans to surround the origin

The Haven, North Fitzroy, was established by the Salvation Army in 1897. It had various functions over the years, including a maternity home, foundling hospital, babies’ and toddlers’ home, day care centre and hostel for girls with intellectual disabilities. It closed in 1988. The Haven was situated at 73-75 Alfred Crescent, North Fitzroy. It was established by the Salvation Army as a ‘Foundling Home and Refuge’ in a substantial private residence in Alfred Crescent, North Fitzroy in 1897. The private home was modified to provide dormitories, a maternity hospital and a nursery. The Haven was then utilised as a maternity home for young mothers from around the State. The book Delinquent Angel describes what The Haven might have been like for a young woman in the post World War Two period. … Fitzroy was a raw and seedy place. Terraced cottages compacted street after street. There were missions for the poor, food kitchens, doss houses and places where the need

The Harbour, in West Brunswick, was established by the Salvation Army in 1898. It operated as a maternity home and home for young women aged 14 to 18. It closed in 1994. The Harbour was situated in Cohuna Street, West Brunswick. According to the DHHS guide ‘Finding Records’, the commercial laundry that operated at the Harbour closed in the 1960s. From that time, the institution focused on the needs of teenage girls, supporting their transition to independent living. From the mid 1960s until it closed in 1994, the institution was known as Hillview House. The Harbour was mentioned in the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices Inquiry (2012) as an institution that was involved in forced adoption. One woman’s submission said: Living in the home for 4½ months was a very impersonal, detached experience for me. No-one on the staff made the effort to befriend me or offer me any support or counselling and this feeling of isolatio

St Mary’s Home, Toowong, was established in 1919. It was a Home for unmarried mothers and their babies operated by the Committee of St Mary’s Church of England Home. St Mary’s Home, Taringa amalgamated with the Brisbane Female Refuge and relocated to Bent Street, Toowong in 1919. It operated under the name St Mary’s Home, Toowong. The Home closed in 1991. St Mary’s Home, Toowong was licensed under The lnfant Life Protection Act until 1959. It was licensed again on 11 February 1975. Funding ceased in 1981/82 but the home continued to operate. According to an article published in The Courier-Mail in 1944, St Mary’s Home, Toowong, women typically stayed at St Mary’s Home for approximately four months after giving birth. The majority of the women who stayed at St Mary’s were between the ages of 17 and 19. Most of the babies born to women at the home were put up for adoption. Beatrice Wood was in charge of St Mary’s Home, Taringa, in 1907. Miss E. Taylor was matron of

St Margaret’s Hospital was established in Strawberry Hills [Surry Hills] in 1894 as a lying-in home, by a religious community led by Gertrude Abbott. It grew and became a maternity hospital, lying in home and provided midwifery nursing training. In 1910, St Margaret’s moved to Darlinghurst. From 1937 was run by the Sisters of St Joseph . St Margaret’s was an adoption agency and an obstetric teaching hospital for the University of Sydney. St Margaret’s Public Hospital operated as part of the hospital from 1946-1993 and St Margaret’s Children’s Hospital operated from 1967-1979. St Margaret’s closed in 1998. St Margaret’s Hospital was started in 1894 by a group of women living in an informal Catholic religious community in ‘Lorraine Terrace’, 561 Elizabeth Street, Strawberry Hills (Surry Hills), on the corner of Cleveland Street. The leader of this community was Gertrude Abbott, who had been a Josephite nun in Adelaide (formerly Mary Jane O’Brien, then Sister Ignatius of Jesus). Gertru

St Joseph’s Receiving Home, Carlton, was established by Margaret Goldspink in 1902. In 1905 the Receiving Home moved to Grattan Street, Carlton, when it came under the management of the Sisters of St Joseph. It accommodated many thousands of pregnant women and also provided short term accommodation to infants. The Receiving Home closed in 1985 when it was merged with St Joseph’s Babies’ Home to form the new St Joseph’s Babies’ and Family Service in Glenroy. St Joseph’s Receiving Home was originally located on Barkly Street, Carlton. The Receiving Home was open to women of any denomination (in 1911, 20% of mothers at the home were non-Catholics). Mrs Margaret Goldspink (nee Fitzsimons) was an important figure in the establishment of St Joseph’s Receiving Home in Carlton in 1902. A prominent Catholic layperson working with women and children in the late nineteenth century in Melbourne, Goldspink was the secretary of the Ladies Association of Charity, founded in 1887 by Catholic wom

St Joseph’s Foundling Hospital was established by the Sisters of St Joseph in May 1901 at Broadmeadows. It was also known as the Broadmeadows Babies Home. It housed babies and children up to the age of three and a half, some older children and expectant mothers. The Hospital also trained mothercraft nurses. It closed in 1975 and the Sisters established a foster care service in Glenroy, called St Joseph’s Babies’ Home. St Joseph’s Foundling Hospital was established by the Sisters of St Joseph in 1901 at Broadmeadows. Abandoned babies and infanticide were the topic of much public discussion in Victoria throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. Until the Catholic foundling home was founded in 1901, the Victorian Infant Asylum (founded in 1877) and the Neglected Children’s Department were the only institutions to receive babies. The Sisters of St Joseph opened the Foundling Hospital at the request of Archbishop Carr, in May 1901. The Archbishop set out the purpose of