The Society for the Relief of Destitute Children opened an asylum for children in Ormond House, a mansion in Paddington, in 1852. The Asylum held 150 children aged 3 to 10 years who were defined as needy yet had not been admitted to the Orphan Schools. The Asylum for Destitute Children relocated to Randwick in 1858.
Every child admitted (including voluntary admissions) to the Asylum for Destitute Children was to remain the responsibility of the Institution until aged 19 or, in the case of a female marrying earlier, until her marriage.
The Asylum for Destitute Children was located in a building called Juniper Hall, or Ormond House. It dates from 1824 and is the oldest grand mansion in Sydney and was built as Juniper Hall by Robert Cooper, a gin distiller. The house was renamed Ormond in 1848 to distance it from its associations with Cooper's trade. It was leased to the Society for the Relief of Destitute Children in 1852 and passed through a number of tenants before being bought by the State Children's Relief Board in the 1884, who used it until 1923, with the name Ormond House. The house was renamed Juniper Hall after World War II. In 1983 it was purchased by the National Trust and restored. It served as a museum and offices and was sold in 2012 to the Moran family, descendants of Robert Cooper.
1852 - 1858 Asylum for Destitute Children
1858 - 1915 Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Juniper Hall', in State Heritage Register, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, 2012, https://www.hms.heritage.nsw.gov.au/App/Item/ViewItem?itemId=5045231; Oates, Justine, 'Historic Juniper Hall for sale', Wentworth Courier, 27 August 2012, http://web.archive.org/web/20120829002119/http://www.news.com.au/realestate/selling/historic-juniper-hall-for-sale/story-fndbawks-1226458809842; 'Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children', in Museums of History NSW website, Museums of History NSW, https://mhnsw.au/guides/randwick-asylum-destitute-children/.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 24 May 2011, Last modified: 6 February 2015