Ardill House, 1940? - 1960?, courtesy of City of Canada Bay Heritage Society.
Details
Our Children's Home at Concord, also known as Ardill House, was established in 1918 at Davidson Avenue by the Society for Providing Homes for Neglected Children. It was a children's home until 1982, when it was converted to administration for the Society, and then to a child care centre.
Our Children's Home, Concord, was one of three children's homes operated by George Edward Ardill's Society for Providing Homes for Neglected Children. The children cared for were orphaned, abandoned, or unable to be cared for by their parents. Parents were encouraged to contribute maintenance and visit their children as often as possible.
The Society acquired the property at Davidson Avenue in 1918 and called it Ardill House. It moved its operations from Liverpool to the new site.
In 1973 Our Children's Home was licensed to care for 25 children, but this was reviewed and reduced to 10 children in 1981.
During the 1970s and 1980s the care of children gradually became deinstitutionalized and the movement towards simulating the environment of the home gained pace. In September 1982 the home was closed due to the diminishing level of donations to the Society, the effect of policies of the Department of Youth and Community Services in reducing the number of children permitted to reside at the home which diminished the level of assistance available from the Department, the policy of restoring children to families as soon as practicable, the difficulty of securing suitable staff, and the necessity for extensive alterations to premises to meet licensing standards.
A long day care centre was opened by the Society on the site in 1989. Before and after school care was also introduced. In 2011 it was trading as Integricare Ardill House North Strathfield, offering long day care in a Christian setting.
Sources used to compile this entry: Hanson, Dallas, Why are they in children's homes: report of the ACOSS children's home intake survey, Australian Department of Social Services: Australian Council of Social Services, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1979, 83 pp; Radi, Heather, ''Ardill, George Edward (1857-1945)'', in Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Melbourne University Press, 1979, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ardill-george-edward-5048; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf; Thornton, Bruce, George Edward Ardill and the Sydney Rescue Work Society (now Communicare Sydney) [also titled "Haste to the Rescue"], Baptist Historical Society of New South Wales, Sydney, 2008, 118 pp.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 21 March 2011, Last modified: 11 November 2020
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE00346b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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