Archives



Havilah Group Home

Havilah Group Home, at Frampton Street, Marrickville, was run by Church of England Children’s Homes from 1979 until 1984 as a family group home for up to 8 Aboriginal children between the ages of 6 and 14 years old. It was staffed by Aboriginal people and was one of the first homes of its kind….

Native Institution

The Native Institution was established at Parramatta by Governor Lachlan Macquarie on 10 December 1814 as a ‘school for the education of the native children’. It was a children’s home and asylum and was run by a Christian missionary, William Shelley. In 1823 it was moved to Blacktown. It closed in 1833. The Native Institution…

Blue Mountains Handicapped Children’s Centre

The Blue Mountains Handicapped Children’s Centre was formed in Springwood in 1961 to provide accommodation, education, employment and training for children with disabilities. At first its services were for children but this was extended to adults over time. In 2014 it is still operating, as Eloura or Blue Mountains Disability Services Ltd.

Cudgelo Junior Red Cross Home

Cudgelo Junior Red Cross Home was opened as a Junior Red Cross Home in Ramsgate in 1923. It appears to have been a holiday home and convalescence home for girls from the Far West of New South Wales, including the Bourke district. During World War Two, the Home temporarily relocated to Yass, before returning to…

Mount Arcadia Children’s Home

Mount Arcadia Children’s Home in Parramatta North that was established by the Smith Family in 1933. It was a convalescent home for children suffering from juvenile rheumatism and other illnesses. Most children stayed at Mount Arcadia for around 5 months before returning home. The hospital was rebuilt in the mid 1950s, and in 1958, the…

Sunnyfield School

Sunnyfield School, also known as Sunnyfield Children’s Home, was a special school for children with intellectual disabilities at Manly Vale. Children stayed over the school holidays, so it also functioned as a disability institution. It was started by the Sunnyfield Branch of the Sub-Normal Children’s Welfare Association, which became the Sunnyfield Association in 1956. It…

Crowle House

Crowle House was a residential facility for children with intellectual disabilities that was set up by the Sub-Normal Children’s Welfare Association in Ryde in 1952. It was also known as “Once Upon a Time”. A school was attached until 1978. Many of the children at Crowle House became long term residents and stayed upon reaching…

Singleton Aboriginal Children’s Home

The Singleton Aboriginal Children’s Home was run by the Aborigines Inland Mission in the same rented house as the Singleton Home, which had been a girls’ home. Singleton Aboriginal Children’s Home was for both sexes and the children were aged from birth to 14 years. It was used by the Aborigines Protection Board as an…

Belmont Crippled Children’s Home

The Belmont Crippled Children’s Home opened in April 1952 in Belmont at Newcastle. It was a holiday home run by the NSW Crippled Children’s Association. The property was demolished in 1979.

Brewarrina Aboriginal Station Dormitory

The Brewarrina Aboriginal Station Dormitory was a dormitory for Aboriginal girls that was attached to the manager’s house at Brewarrina Aboriginal Station, an Aborigines Protection Board property 16 kilometres from Brewarrina township. Aboriginal girls from all over New South Wales were sent there for ‘training’ and discipline, usually from the ages of 14-18 when they…