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New South Wales - Organisation

Benevolent Society of New South Wales (1813 - )

From
1813
Categories
Adoption Agency, Care Provider, Non-denominational and Records Access Service
Alternative Names
  • The Benevolent (also known as)
  • New South Wales Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Benevolence (also known as, 1813 - 1818)
Website
http://www.benevolent.org.au/

The Benevolent Society of New South Wales was established on 8 May 1813 and is celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2013. It was founded to provide aid to the destitute, needy, sick and vulnerable aged people, women and children. For much of the nineteenth century it was effectively the social welfare arm of the New South Wales Government, as the government paid the society to provide residential care and deliver aid to the poor of Sydney and beyond.

Details

The first residential institution operated by the Benevolent Society was the Benevolent Asylum, opened in 1821 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, in Devonshire Street.

The Benevolent Asylum was located on the corner of Pitt and Devonshire Streets, Sydney on a site now occupied by Central Railway Station. The New South Wales Government resumed the site in 1901 when it began building the station. With the compensation the Society received it bought 'Flinton' in Paddington, then developed the Thomas Street Asylum in Ultimo.

When the Benevolent Society's adoption agency closed in the 1970s, adoption records were transferred to the predecessor of the Department of Family and Community Services.

The Benevolent Asylum records from 1857-1900 have been indexed and the index is available online. Please see the list of published resources to access this website.

Location

1813
Location - Benevolent Society of New South Wales was founded in Sydney. Location: Sydney

Related Archival Collections

Related Contact Details

Related Organisations

Publications

Books

  • Rathbone, Ron, A Very Present Help: Caring for Australians Since 1813, State Library of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 1994, 237 pp. Details
  • Scifleet, Paul, Guide to the Records of the Benevolent Society of New South Wales in the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, 1996. Details

Reports

  • Squires, Kathryn and Slater, Lisa, Living at Scarba Home for Children: A history of the Scarba Welfare House for Children (1917-1986) in the context of child welfare practice in New South Wales, Benevolent Society, Paddington, 2006, 56 pp. Details

Resources

  • Benevolent Society: 200 year celebration: Last 200, Benevolent Society, 2013. Details

Online Resources

Photos

Liverpool Asylum
Title
Liverpool Asylum
Type
Image
Date
1850s
Publisher
Benevolent Society

Details

Benevolent Asylum
Title
Benevolent Asylum
Type
Image
Date
c. 1901
Publisher
Benevolent Society

Details

Living at Scarba Home for Children: A history of the Scarba Welfare House for Children (1917-1986)
in the context of child welfare practice in New South Wales
Title
Living at Scarba Home for Children: A history of the Scarba Welfare House for Children (1917-1986) in the context of child welfare practice in New South Wales
Type
Document
Date
2006
Source
The Benevolent Society of NSW

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: Scifleet, Paul, Guide to the Records of the Benevolent Society of New South Wales in the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, 1996; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf.

Prepared by: Naomi Parry