Eleanor MacKinnon Memorial Home

The Eleanor MacKinnon Memorial Home, at Cronulla, was run by the Australian Red Cross from 1951. It was a boys’ home that took in children whose families were in crisis, or who were experiencing health problems. The Eleanor MacKinnon Home closed in 1997.

Eleanor MacKinnon Memorial Home was a boys’ home specialising in receiving children whose families were in crisis, due to hospitalisation, desertion, illness, death, confinements, financial or housing problems, or where children had health problems and needed to recover from malnutrition or illnesses.

It was named after the Junior Red Cross founder and honorary director from 1914 until 1936. The building was a suburban home that accommodated up to 21 boys at a time. The Department of Education provided a schoolroom, with its own teacher, in the grounds.

The property, in Lucas Street, Cronulla, was auctioned in 2014. An article in the St George & Sutherland Shire described it like this:

The property was built in the early 1920s as a private home, but from 1945 to 1980 was run by the Red Cross as a home for boys whose families were suffering a crisis.

It was named after Eleanor MacKinnon, the founder of Junior Red Cross and its honorary director from 1914 to 1936.

In those days, the house was set among large gardens, with a swimming pool, but a villa complex now occupies that space.