Parragirls was an organisation of over 350 former residents of the Parramatta Girls Home and their supporters, including activists and academics. Parragirls provided a contact register and support network for the Forgotten Australians of the Parramatta Girls Home, Kamballa and related institutions. The organisation was formed in 2006 to lobby for the preservation of the…
The Eleanor MacKinnon Memorial Home, at Cronulla, was run by the Australian Red Cross from 1951. It was a boys’ home that took in children whose families were in crisis, or who were experiencing health problems. The Eleanor MacKinnon Home closed in 1997. Eleanor MacKinnon Memorial Home was a boys’ home specialising in receiving children…
The Glen Mervyn Red Cross Home at Randwick was operated by the Australian Red Cross from around 1973. It took in children whose families were experiencing a range of problems, or who were experiencing health problems. Glen Mervyn Junior Red Cross Home closed in 1992. From 1993, the site housed the Young Parents Program day…
The Australian Red Cross was formed on the outbreak of the first World War in 1914 as a branch of the British Red Cross Society. The Australian Junior Red Cross, a subsidiary organisation to the Australian Red Cross, was formally established in New South Wales in 1918. The Junior Red Cross carried out a range…
Timaru Refuge was a crisis accommodation centre and youth refuge for children experiencing family crisis and requiring short-term accommodation. It was established by Charlton Youth Services, later known as Anglicare Youth Services, around 1980 at Macquarie Fields, near Campbelltown. It could accommodated up to 6 children between the ages of 10 and 18 years old….
On 10 August 1987, the then Prime Minister Robert J Hawke announced the formation of a Royal Commission to investigate the causes of deaths of Aboriginal people while held in State and Territory gaols. The Royal Commission was established in response to a growing public concern that deaths in custody of Aboriginal people were too…
The Probationary Farm Home, Rydalmere was established in 1891 by the State Children’s Relief Board. It was a home for boys who were defined as being too ‘vicious’ or ‘too old’ to stay at the Mittagong Cottage Homes or in the boarding out system. The Probationary Farm Home, Rydalmere was closed in 1894 and the…
The Probationary Farm Home, Branxton was established in the 1890s by the State Children’s Relief Board. It was a home for boys who were defined as being too ‘vicious’ or ‘too old’ to be kept at the Mittagong Cottage Homes, or in the boarding out system. Probationary Farm Home, Branxton closed around 1915. Rather than…
Riverina Welfare Farm for Boys, Yanco was an industrial school, or juvenile detention centre, in the Riverina. It was established at the former Yanco Experiment Farm in 1928 by the Child Welfare Department and held up to 128 boys. It functioned as a training farm and the New South Wales Department of Agriculture trained the…
George Brown College at Haberfield was a hostel used to house 20 Aboriginal children who had been evacuated from Croker Island (Northern Territory) during World War II by the Church Missionary Society. While staying at George Brown College, the Croker Island children attended Haberfield Public School. The evacuees had left by 1946. Claire Henty-Gebert, one…