Mental deficiency is a term that was commonly used to describe intellectual or developmental disability in the first half of the twentieth century. It was regarded as a disease, and the popular belief was that people who were diagnosed as ‘mentally defective’ needed to be segregated from the community, to receive special ‘care’ and treatment….
The Register of Convicts for House of Correction, Carters Barracks is a record held by Museums of History in the collection of the State Archives of NSW. It contains information about people incarcerated at Carters Barracks, including date entered the barracks, convict number, convict name, name of the ship they arrived on, original sentence, crime…
In 1951, a British Home Office official named John Moss inspected and reported on Australian and New Zealand institutions where British child migrants were living. Moss spent July-December 1951 travelling around Australia and to New Zealand, inspecting institutions and making recommendations. His report, known as the Moss Report, was submitted to the British government in…
The Community of the Holy Name is a religious order founded in Melbourne, in 1888. The founder of the order, Emma Caroline Silcock (also known as Sister Esther), led the work of the Mission to the Streets and Lanes in Melbourne, and the two organisations had a close association. The order was not formally established…
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is an international convention, setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children. The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989 (the 30th anniversary of the Declaration of the Rights of…
An orphan is a child whose mother or father or both has died. Historically, in the context of institutional ‘care’, the term ‘orphan’ did not necessarily mean a child whose parents had died. It was most often used to describe a child whose parent/s were (or were judged to be) unable, for many different reasons,…
The Wattle Day Appeal was an annual fundraising event, used to raise funds for children’s institutions and other charitable organisations. The annual Wattle Day Appeal began in 1910, with Wattle Day events held in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Over the next few years, Wattle Day events were also held in Queensland and…
The Aborigines Welfare Ordinance 1954 (Act no. 8/1954) was Commonwealth legislation, established to ‘provide for the welfare and control of Aborigines, particularly those at the Wreck Bay reserve’ (Jervis Bay Territory). The 1954 Ordinance followed the lines of the New South Wales Aborigines Protection Acts, 1909-1943 and was approved by the Aborigines Welfare Board of…
The Juvenile Offenders Ordinance 1941 (Act no. 11/1941) was Commonwealth legislation that allowed for children from the ACT to be placed in NSW institutions. It provided that a court in the ACT may commit a person under the age of eighteen to a NSW institution, in accordance with the Neglected Children and Juvenile Offenders Act…
The Neglected Children and Juvenile Offenders Ordinance 1949 (Act no. 9/1949) was Commonwealth legislation, which amended the definition of ‘neglected child’ in the Neglected Children and Juvenile Offenders Act 1905 (NSW). It commenced on 29 September 1949 and was repealed by the Child Welfare Ordinance 1957 on 1 March 1958. The NSW child welfare legislation…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
