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Ormond Training School

Ormond Training School in Thornleigh, or Ormond School, was officially proclaimed and gazetted in October 1962. It had previously been called Ormond, Thornleigh, and had been an annexe to Parramatta Girls Training School. Ormond Training School was a facility for up to 104 girls, mostly school aged, and was a School for Specific Purposes. From…

Falling Leaves

Falling Leaves, at Avalon, operated from around 1950. It was a licensed children’s home approved by the New South Wales Child Welfare Department. Licensed children’s homes were considered part of the foster care system. Falling Leaves closed around 1970. In 2013 it is a private house. Falling Leaves was run by a mother and daughter…

Cottage Home for Invalid Children, Parramatta

The Cottage Home for Invalid Children was established at Parramatta by the State Children’s Relief Department around 1907. It was a home for children who were physically ill or disabled. It closed around 1940.

Garth

Garth was established by the Child Welfare Department in Willoughby in 1924. It was a home for the segregation and treatment of children, and mothers and babies, who were suffering from venereal disease. Not all children in the home carried venereal disease, as it also housed children with polio (infantile paralysis). A commission of inquiry…

Male Orphan School

The Male Orphan School was established by Governor Macquarie in 1819 to house destitute boys aged between seven and ten. It was located on George Street, Sydney, in the former premises of the Female Orphan School. The boys were given a basic education, learned trades such as carpentry, hat and shoe making, and, from 1923,…

Probationary Farm Home, Rydalmere

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…

Probationary Farm Home, Branxton

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

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…

Waterfall Sanatorium

Waterfall Sanatorium was opened on 14 April 1909 in Waterfall as a hospital for the treatment of patients, including children, who had advanced tuberculosis (TB). Patients were sent to Waterfall Sanatorium, often against their will, and were not released until cured. People who died there are buried on the site. Waterfall Sanatorium closed in 1958….

Lady Edeline Hospital for Sick Babies

The Lady Edeline Hospital for Sick Babies was a government children’s hospital at Nielsen Park, in Vaucluse, in an historic house called ‘Greycliffe’. It began in 1914. It had 40 cots and was intended as a hospital to nurse babies who were sick with gastroenteritis, which was common in Sydney summer. It closed in 1936…