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New South Wales - Organisation

Metropolitan Children's Court (1911 - 1983)

  • Nun from the order of Sister of the Good Shepherd escorting a girl, Children's Court Albion Street, Sydney, 25 October, 1963

    Nun from the order of Sister of the Good Shepherd escorting a girl, Children's Court Albion Street, Sydney, 25 October, 1963, 25 October 1963, by Mulligan, John, courtesy of National Library of Australia.
    Details

From
1911
To
1983
Categories
Juvenile Justice Centre

The Metropolitan Children's Court was established in 1911, when the Children's Court moved to Albion Street, Sydney from Ormond House. The courthouse also housed the Metropolitan Shelter for Boys. The Metropolitan Children's Court was criticised for overcrowding, its poor location and facilites and on 29 April 1983 it closed when the Bidura Children's Court opened in Glebe.

Details

Bidura Children's Court holds records of the Metropolitan Children's Court and can be approached to gain access. Please note that this series of records is incomplete.

Children's Courts

In many instances, especially in the case of smaller Courts, the depositions of proceedings in Children's Courts are interfiled with the adult depositions. There are, however, several designated Children's Courts in NSW: Bidura Children's Court at Glebe (in Sydney's inner west); Cobham Children's Court at Werrington (in Sydney's far west); Worimi Children's Court at Broadmeadow (Newcastle); Minda Children's Court at Lidcombe (in Sydney's west); Campsie Children's Court at Campsie (in Sydney's south west); and Yasmar Children's Court at Haberfield (in Sydney's inner west).

The records listed do not constitute the full extent of the records available. Those listed are the records which appear in the Concise Guide to the State Archives. Since the Guide was last updated it is possible that additional records have been deposited with State Records of New South Wales. In addition, records are still held by the Courts themselves. As all requests for information must be directed through the Clerk of the relevant Court, current information about holdings will be available from the Court.

Timeline

 1911 - 1983 Metropolitan Children's Court
       1983 - Bidura Children's Court

Related Concepts

Related Organisations

Related Places

  • Ormond House (1824 - )

    The Childrens' Court moved from Ormond House to the Metropolitan Children's Court in 1911. Girls waiting for Children's Court cases were kept at the girls' shelter at Ormond House from 1912-1923.

Publications

Books

  • Ludlow, Christa, 'For their own good' : a history of the Albion Street Children's Court and Boys' Shelter, Network of Community Activities, Surry Hills, 1994, 47 pp. Details

Resource Sections

Online Resources

Photos

Children's Court, Sydney
Title
Children's Court, Sydney
Type
Image
Date
1912
Publisher
W.A. Gullick, Government Printer

Details

Nun from the order of Sister of the Good Shepherd escorting a girl, Children's Court Albion Street, Sydney, 25 October, 1963
Title
Nun from the order of Sister of the Good Shepherd escorting a girl, Children's Court Albion Street, Sydney, 25 October, 1963
Type
Image
Date
25 October 1963
Creator
Mulligan, John
Source
National Library of Australia

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: Lawlink, 'The Children's Court of New South Wales: Timeline of Major Events 1905-2011', in History of the Children's Court, Lawlink, Lawlink NSW, 2012, http://www.childrenscourt.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/History%20-%20Timeline%20of%20major%20events.pdf; Ludlow, Christa, 'For their own good' : a history of the Albion Street Children's Court and Boys' Shelter, Network of Community Activities, Surry Hills, 1994, 47 pp; Parry, Naomi, 'Such a longing': black and white children in welfare in New South Wales and Tasmania, 1880-1940, Department of History, University of New South Wales, 2007, 361 pp, http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/40786; 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