Spastic Centre Country Children's Hostel

The Spastic Centre Country Children’s Hostel, also known as McLeod House and the New South Wales Hostel for Country Children, was a hostel for country children with cerebral palsy run by The Spastic Centre. A pilot hostel was established in Mosman in 1948 and a purpose-built facility opened in Allambie Heights in 1957. State wards were sent to this home. In 2007 the Centre was still providing residential services, possibly including children. In 2011 the organisation changed its name to Cerebral Palsy Alliance.

The Spastic Centre was established in 1945 by a group of parents led by Neil and Audrie McLeod, whose daughter had cerebral palsy, which was then referred to as ‘spastic paralysis’. It was the first organisation of its type in the world.

The McLeods and a group of volunteer parents started a treatment centre in a borrowed house in Queen Street, Mosman. The Spastic Centre preferred to work with families, but it was very difficult for country families who had children with cerebral palsy to access services. The Spastic Centre established a pilot hostel in Glover Street in Mosman in 1948.

The foundation stone for a purpose-built hostel in Allambie Heights was laid in 1953. This hostel was built with voluntary labour and was opened on 9 February 1958 by the Governor of New South Wales. It was called McLeod House, after the founders of the Centre. It contained a hospital.

A severe fire gutted The Spastic Centre’s administration building in 2007, but McLeod House was not damaged. In 2008 The Spastic Centre began raising funds to replace the building, which was by then considered unsuitable for therapy and accommodation for children.

The Spastic Centre changed its name to the Cerebral Palsy Alliance in 2011.