Archives



Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea

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…

State Children Relief Act 1896, New South Wales

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

Redfern Aboriginal Children’s Service was established in 1975, after the Aboriginal Legal Service identified 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, or were wards of the state. The…

Dr Dill Macky Memorial Home for Children, Auburn

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…

Bush Church Aid Society

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

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…

Probationary Farm Home, Toronto

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…

Shaftesbury Home for Babies and Mothers

The Shaftesbury Home for Babies and Mothers was established by the State Children’s Relief Board in the old Shaftesbury Reformatory buildings on Old South Head Road, in present-day Vaucluse, around 1913 or 1914. It was a replacement for the Thirlmere Home for Babies and was one of a number of homes for infants and unmarried…

Cottage Home for Feeble-Minded Children, Parramatta

The Cottage Home for Feeble-Minded Children, Parramatta, was established by the State Children’s Relief Board in 1907. It was intended to provide special treatment for children who were intellectually disabled or psychologically disturbed, but were not so unwell that they needed to be sent to a hospital for the insane. It offered schooling to the…

Sydney Norland Nurseries

Sydney Norland Nurseries was a private children’s home that was opened in 1909 as part of the Norland Institute or Norland Nursing College. It operated in various sites in Sydney, including Waverley-Woollahra, Rose Bay and Ashfield-Summer Hill, from 1909 until the 1940s. In 1910 Norland Nurseries was licensed as an infants’ home by the State…