Please contact Museums of History New South Wales:
Postal Address: PO Box 516, Kingswood NSW 2747
Phone: (02) 9673 1788
Email: collections@mhnsw.au
Website: https://mhnsw.au/about-us/contact/
Quote this number to access your records: State Records Authority of New South Wales Series Number, NRS-3829
These records are held by Museums of History NSW (June 1961 - current).
School Files are a series of records related to the running of schools in New South Wales from 1876 to 1979, including children’s homes with school programs. The records mainly include applications for the establishment of schools, schools’ progress, buildings and school site information, appointments of teachers, school inspections, correspondence between schools and the Department or parents, and other miscellaneous records. There are some records related more specifically to pupils including: admission registers, punishment books and examination books. Most records in this series do not contain information about students (e.g. observation books, programme and lesson registers, and visitor books). Administrative files contain information about the running of the school, and generally do not contain information about students unless there was a particular incident at school that was documented. Post-1939 administrative files have been culled by the Department of Education and are very unlikely to contain student information.
Many records in this series are Open Access, however some that contain personal information are restricted for 50 years. For access to these records please contact Museums of History NSW.
These files are arranged alphabetically by name of school. They deal with matters relating to the administration and operation of the school and may include correspondence about pupils.
School Files may be a vital source of information about children who were residents of children’s homes, or cared for under a substitute care program, particularly where no other records of that home or program survive. For example, the records of Carlingford Public School may contain information about children from Dalmar and the Church of England Girls and Boys Homes at Carlingford.
In some cases, the school files contain records from Children’s Homes, including identifying information about children. This includes:
The below document contains a list of items identified in this series that directly relate to children’s homes and may be of relevance to Care Leavers. The items are arranged by the Home/Institution that they relate to.
Series NRS 3829 School Files (1876 – 1979): List of Items
State Archives NSW has published an index of Aboriginal schools mentioned in these files, as well as an index of non-Aboriginal schools mentioned in the files.
Quantity: 4436 boxes, 114 plans, 1 bundle.