The Bathurst Diocese of the Church of England in the west of New South Wales comprises 34 parishes, stretching from the Blue Mountains to the Queensland border. The Bathurst Diocese established the St Michael’s War Memorial Children’s Homes at Bathurst in 1957. It ran an Anglican Youth Council and a Children’s Home Council, who took over the operations of the Homes from their founder, Children’s and Youth Commissioner Canon Harry Thorpe, MBE.