Canowindra Girls' Home

The Canowindra Girls’ Home, also known as Lyndon House, was opened in 1942 by the Salvation Army at Canowindra. Its first residents were girls from Arncliffe Girls’ Home (The Nest) and The Fold at Marrickville and two boys and a girl from Bethesda Maternity Hospital who had been moved from Sydney because of World War II. After World War II Canowindra Girls’ Home continued operating, closing in 1977.

The Canowindra Girls’ Home (also known as ‘Lyndon House’) was officially opened on 7 October 1942 by Lieutenant Commissioner E.J. Harewood of the Salvation Army. The first girls were, however, admitted in March 1942, having been transferred in three groups from Sydney on 25, 26 and 27 March. Thirty girls were transferred from The Nest Girls’ Home at Arncliffe and 44 from The Fold at Marrickville. In addition, two young boys and a girl were transferred from Bethesda Hospital. Prior to its purchase by the Salvation Army, the property had been a private home belonging to the Purcell family. The Salvation Army closed both The Fold and The Nest in 1942 in response to the wartime situation, and transferred the girls to Canowindra. The home closed on 13 January 1977.

Lyndon House was mentioned in a 1979 Commonwealth Government report called Why are they in children’s homes: report of the ACOSS children’s home intake survey.

Canowindra Girls’ Home was mentioned in the Lost Innocents Report (2001) as an institution involved in the migration of children to Australia.