St Joseph's Children's Home

St Joseph’s Children’s Home was the new name for the St Joseph’s Junior Boys’ Home at Largs Bay from 1969. Run by the Sisters of St Joseph, it changed its name when girls were admitted. In the 1970s the Home housed children aged between two and fifteen in four group units. St Joseph’s Children’s Home closed in 1980.

St Joseph’s Children’s Home was the new name for the St Joseph’s Junior Boys’ Home at Largs Bay from 1969. Situated at 208 The Esplanade, Largs Bay, the Home was run by the Sisters of St Joseph. Since 1941, it had taken in only young boys between the ages of three and twelve. As a result of this, the Home had been known as St Joseph’s Junior Boys’ Home. In 1969, however, the Home began to admit girls so the name was changed to St Joseph’s Children’s Home to acknowledge that. One of the existing dormitories was set aside for the girls.

During 1973-1974 the original building was converted into four self-contained group units, each accommodating eight children between the ages of two and fifteen. Each group was cared for by a house-mother. Three of the units had the capacity to shelter two extra children in an emergency. During the 1970s children remained in the home for periods ranging between three weeks and three years. While in residence they attended local schools. Until its closure at the end of 1980 St Josephs continued to provide unit style accommodation for children from infancy to seventeen years of age.

The building is leased by Kura Yerlo Inc and operates as a community centre for Aboriginal people in the Adelaide region.