Archives



Closed Adoption

Closed adoption refers to the practice of sealing an adopted child’s original birth certificate and issuing a new birth certificate when the child was adopted. This new certificate included the name of the child and their adoptive parents. The identity of the adopted child’s original parents was hidden. This practice meant that many people didn’t…

Family Spirit

Family Spirit was created in 2018 through the merger of the Marist180 and CatholicCare Sydney adoption services. Family Spirit deals with all forms of foster care and adoption and guardianship services. Family Spirit provides access to records relating to adoptions and some former Homes run by the Catholic Church.

Turner Cottage Special School for Truants

Turner Cottage Special School for Truants was proclaimed a special school on 20 May 1938. It was located on the same site as the Mittagong Farm Home for Boys, and for a time, the school was under the administration of the Superintendent of Mittagong. When Anglewood Special School opened, boys from Turner Cottage were transferred…

Rehoboth

Rehoboth was a Home for Aboriginal girls run by the Aborigines’ Inland Mission. It was officially opened in March 1924. Elizabeth McKenzie Hatton, a white missionary (later secretary of the Australian Aborigines Progressive Association), was instrumental in the establishment of Rehoboth. According to the Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership, McKenzie Hatton’s intention for Rehoboth was:…

Sydney Female Refuge Society

The Sydney Female Refuge Society was established in 1848 with the motto ‘GO, AND SIN NO MORE’. It was established by a group of Protestant philanthropists to assist and restore women working in prostitution, as well as single pregnant women. The Society ran the Sydney Female Refuge, located in Pitt Street, Sydney and later in…

St Andrew’s Presbyterian Boys’ Hostel

St Andrew’s Presbyterian Boys’ Hostel, Dubbo, opened in 1923 as a boarding hostel that provided accommodation to boys from remote areas so they could attend high school in Dubbo. The hostel was owned by the Presbyterian Church. By 1945 the hostel had closed. St Andrew’s Presbyterian Boys’ Hostel, Dubbo, was officially opened in June 1923,…

Good Shepherd Archive

The Good Shepherd Archive was established in 1983 and is located in Abbotsford, Melbourne, Victoria. The Archive cares for the records of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Australia and New Zealand. The records, from Good Shepherd institutions around Australia, date from 1863 to the present day. The Good Shepherd Archive’s collection includes many records about…

Sydney Female Mission Home

The Sydney Female Mission Home was established on 17 November 1873. It was an institution for single pregnant women. It also admitted some single mothers together with their infants. It was a Protestant organisation run by a committee of women, with a non-sectarian admission policy. It was located in premises on Elizabeth Street, Sydney, overlooking…

Children and Young Persons Legislation (Repeal and Amendment) Act 1998, New South Wales

The Children and Young Persons Legislation (Repeal and Amendment) Act 1998 was passed on 14 December 1998. This Act had the full title: An Act to repeal the Children (Care and Protection) Act 1987; to amend the Children’s Court Act 1987: and to amend certain other Acts as a consequence of the enactment of the…

Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in New South Wales

The Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW was established in November 2007, when the Governor commissioned The Hon. James Wood, AO, QC to conduct an inquiry to determine what changes within the child protection system were required to cope with future levels of demand. The Report was handed down in November…