The Australian Orphanage Museum was set up by Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) after 2000. It manages a collection of memorabilia, objects and photographs from children’s homes across the country. Until 2019, the museum was located at CLAN’s head office in Bankstown, New South Wales. In 2019 it moved to new premises in Geelong, Victoria.
Born in Sydney, Weston speaks of his family background, childhood, break up of parents’ marriage, life in Sydney, being placed in Westmead [St Vincent’s] boys home by his mother, being classed as “a naughty boy”, conditions, life and work, education, in home ; running away and his life out of care, including marriage. Access Conditions…
On 13 February 2008, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opened the Parliament of Australia by apologising to the Indigenous peoples of Australia. The Prime Minister said: We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for…
The Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea (ISMAPNG) was formed on December 12, 2011 from a number of congregations of the Sisters of Mercy across Australia and Papua New Guinea. ISMAPNG is a congregation of Catholic women who aim to serve people who experience injustices related to poverty, sickness or…
The State Children Relief Act 1896 amended the State Children Relief Act 1881 to provide clearer regulations around the boarding out and apprenticeship of state children. It provided for state children to be cared for in cottage homes, and created a system for dealing with the money earned by apprentices. It also allowed children to…
Redfern Aboriginal Children’s Service was established in 1975. It was established out of the Aboriginal Legal Service, as a result of a high number of Aboriginal children escaping from custody or from fostering situations and coming to Redfern to search for their families. Many Aboriginal children were either placed into the care of non-Aboriginal families,…
The Dill Macky Memorial Home for Children, Auburn, was established by the Australian Protestant Orphans’ Society in June 1917. It had previously been the King Edward VII Home but was renamed after the death of the founder of the Australian Protestant Orphan Society and the King Edward VII Home, Dr Dill Macky. The Auburn Home…
The Bush Church Aid Society is a Christian ministry that has provided religious education, flying padres and counselling, welfare and medical services across outback Australia. In 2012, many of its workers are Aboriginal. It also ran children’s hostels, providing accommodation and residential support for children who had to leave their homes for their education. The…
King Edward VII Home, Auburn was opened on Saturday 7 October 1911 by the Australian Protestant Orphans’ Society. The Home was established by Dr Dill Macky for orphaned and destitute children of Protestant parents. In June 1917 the Home was renamed the Dr Dill Macky Memorial Home for Children, Auburn in recognition of its late…
The Probationary Farm Home, Toronto, on the Central Coast, was established by the State Children’s Relief Department in 1909. It was a home for boys who were defined as having extremely serious problems of a moral, sexual or psychological nature, and who, it was thought, should not be placed with other children. It operated for…