The Roman Catholic Convent and Female Orphanage, 1866
Details
Our Lady's Orphanage was established by the Sisters of Mercy at Newtown, Geelong in 1862. From 1859 to 1862, the Sisters of Mercy had provided care to girls at St Augustine's Orphanage at Newtown, Geelong. The home changed its name to St Catherine's Orphanage in 1912.
Our Lady's Orphanage was established by the Sisters of Mercy at Newtown, Geelong in 1862. Prior to this, from 1859 to 1862, the Sisters of Mercy had provided care to girls at St Augustine's Orphanage at Newtown, Geelong.
In 1865, the St Joseph's Industrial School opened at the Orphanage.
The home changed its name to St Catherine's Orphanage in 1912.
Barnard and Twigg suggest that the Sisters saw a need to distinguish the Orphanage - which shared a site with Sacred Heart Boarding School and a day primary school - as a cause in its own right in terms of fundraising and bequests.
In 1997, records of the Sisters of Mercy were transferred to MacKillop Family Services. These included records of the various orphanages, homes and other residences run by the Sisters of Mercy. While custodianship of the records about people in 'care' became the responsibility of MacKillop Family Services at this point, it was formally agreed that the intellectual property in these records would not change hands.
c. 1862 - 1912 Our Lady's Orphanage
1912 - 1960 St Catherine's Orphanage
1960 - 1975 St Catherine's Children's Home
c. 1975 - 1997 Mercy Family Care Centre
1997 - MacKillop Family Services
Sources used to compile this entry: Barnard, Jill; Twigg, Karen, Holding on to Hope: a history of the founding agencies of MacKillop Family Services 1854-1997, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2004.
Prepared by: Cate O'Neill
Created: 17 February 2009, Last modified: 24 October 2018
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E000058b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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