Latest Updates

The Sacred Heart Orphanage was established in 1940 at Crystal Brook. Run by the Good Samaritan Sisters, it originally catered for children in need whose fathers had been killed during World War II. In the 1970s the orphanage accommodated children between 4 and 15 years of age. The institution closed as an orphanage in 1979. Sacred Heart Orphanage was originally established by the Catholic Church to cater for children in need whose fathers had been killed during World War II. It was run by the Order of the Good Samaritan Sisters. Other than the children’s home at the Umeewarra Mission near Port Augusta, it was the only home in the north of the state. In the 1970s an agreement was signed with the Department of Community Welfare and government assistance was provided to the institution. This funding allowed the orphanage to accommodate any boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 15 who needed short or long term care. It normally catered for up to twenty children under the care of t

The Convent of the Good Shepherd was established in 1942 in a large home called ‘The Pines’ in Plympton. It was run by the Order of the Good Shepherd Sisters as a home for teenage girls. The first children admitted came from the Catholic Girls’ Home at Parkside when it closed in 1943. In 1974 ‘The Pines’ ceased to operate as a home for children. In 1941 the Good Shepherd Sisters were asked by the Archbishop of Adelaide to establish a home in Adelaide for teenage girls with ‘behavioural problems’. The convent was established in 1942 in a large home at 336 Marion Road, Plympton, called ‘The Pines’. This home was originally owned by the John Martin family. Set on nineteen acres of grounds, it was remodelled to accommodate up to eighty children. By December of 1942 The Convent of the Good Shepherd was proclaimed as a private reformatory school for girls. This proclamation enabled the Home to receive children who were wards of the State. Three sisters from the Order of the Good Shephe

This is a a copy of a photo from the archival series ‘Photographs of Departmental Institutions’, Volume 2, the original caption states: Another view of the new building showing the dormitories.

The Catholic Girls’ Reformatory at Kapunda was established in 1897 to house Catholic girls from the Girls’ Reformatory at Edwardstown. It was run by the Sisters of St Joseph. The Reformatory was closed in 1909 and the remaining girls were transferred to the Redruth Girls’ Reformatory at Burra. During the 1870s and early 1880s Sister Mechtilde Woods and a colleague from the St Joseph’s convent made regular visits to Catholic children in the Girls’ Reformatory at Magill. During these visits they became concerned that Catholic girls in the institution were being discouraged from practicing their faith. In addition they learned that several girls had been boarded out with non-Catholic families. Two particular girls had even been compelled to give up their faith. Over the next decade, the Catholic Church lobbied the government to do something about this situation. It was not until 1895 that a new Act was proclaimed allowing the State Children’s Council to send State Children of particula

This image was included in The Register News – Pictorial, on Wednesday 20 August 1930. The image shows the Catholic Girls’ Home Parkside.

The Catholic Girls Home at Parkside was opened in 1930 to accommodate Roman Catholic girls from the Salvation Army run Barton Vale Girls’ Home. It was run by the Sisters of St Joseph and overseen by the Children’s Welfare and Public Relief Board. The Catholic Girls’ Home closed in 1943 and the girls were transferred to the Convent of the Good Shepherd at Plympton. The Catholic Girls’ Home, Parkside, also known as Genazzano Home, was opened on the 31 August 1930 in a twelve room house at 21 Young Street Parkside that was already owned by the Catholic Church. Genazzano is a village in Italy where a miraculous picture of the Virgin Mary is venerated. The establishment of this new reformatory had been encouraged by the chairman of the Children’s Welfare and Public Relief Department. He wished to relocate the ten Roman Catholic girls detained in the Salvation Army managed Barton Vale Girls’ Home to a separate Catholic reformatory. There they would be able to receive religious training in

The library description states: Halifax Street, north side, February 12th 1937, site of building is 48 yards west of Cardwell Street and frontage is 14.5 yards. For a view of the new building erected in 1937 see B 7382. This photograph shows the bluestone single storey house that was Mary’s Mission of Hope Church of England Home for Children. It was an imposing home with a bay window and an arched porch over the front door.

St Mary’s Mission of Hope opened in Adelaide in 1904, run by an independent management committee that reported to the Synod of the Diocese of Adelaide. The Home took in homeless girls, many from the Destitute Asylum. In 1922 toddlers were admitted and in 1930 teenagers were accommodated. During the 1940s Aboriginal girls from the Northern Territory were transferred to the Home. In 1953, it changed its name to St Mary’s Home for Children, reflecting a change in function to only caring for pre-school aged children. St Mary’s Mission of Hope opened in 1904 at 84 Halifax Street, Adelaide. It was run by an independent management committee that reported annually to the Diocese of Adelaide. By 1906 it had moved to ‘Wilton Lodge’, at 154 Halifax Street. In 1909, the Home moved again to new premises at 222 Halifax Street, Adelaide. St Mary’s Mission of Hope’s primary aim was to rescue homeless girls from the Destitute Asylum. An article in the Adelaide Church Guardian in 1907 described it

Handwritten caption on back of photo says ‘Frontlawn. Home for Inland Children (halfcastes) at Semaphore S. Aust.’

St Francis House was established in 1946 at Semaphore by the Australian Board of Missions. It replaced the Church of England Hostel for Inland Children as a Home for Aboriginal boys from the Northern Territory. In 1949 Aboriginal boys evacuated to New South Wales during World War II were sent to the Home. St Francis House closed around 1961. Some older boys were sent to Karingal Youth Hostel and most younger boys were placed in foster care. St Francis House unofficially began in 1946 when ten Aboriginal boys aged between the ages of 8 and 15 living at the Church of England Hostel for Inland Children in Kensington Park were moved to Glanville Hall at Semaphore. This historic building had been purchased by the Australian Board of Missions (ABM) to be developed as a training centre for Aboriginal boys from the Northern Territory. In 1945 Father Percy Smith established The Church of England Hostel for Inland Children at Kensington Park, as an extension of St John’s Hostel in Alice Sp

This image shows Lady Victoria Buxton Girl’s Club on the East side of Whitmore Square .

The Lady Victoria Buxton Girls’ Club was established in Adelaide by the Church of England in 1898. It began as a meeting place for girls working in West Adelaide factories and developed into a hostel. In the 1920s it had room for more than 30 girls. The Lady Victoria Buxton Girls’ Club operated until 1955. The Lady Victoria Buxton Girls’ Club was established by its patron, Lady Victoria Buxton in 1898 in Bowen Street , Adelaide, and was run by the Church of England. Lady Victoria Buxton was the wife of the then Governor of South Australia, Sir Henry Fowell Buxton. In 1903 the Club moved to larger premises in Whitmore Square, Adelaide. The Lady Victoria Buxton Girls’ Club was founded ‘to provide rooms where factory girls and others living in West Adelaide might meet for amusement and instruction’. It developed into a hostel for 25 girls. This number increased to 34 by 1923. Through donations, fund raising events and sales of the Kookaburra Cookery Book the Club was able to make se

This image shows the later building of the Church of England’s Boys’ Home at Walkerville, which was renamed Kennion House in 1955.

Kennion House was the new informal name given to The Church of England Boys’ Home in 1955. The Home took in only boys until 1976 when girls were also admitted. During the 1960s a number of Aboriginal boys from the Northern Territory were admitted. It was run by an independent management committee that reported to the Diocese of Adelaide until 1978, when the Anglican Child Care Services Committee took over management. Kennion House closed in 1982. Kennion House was the new name given to The Church of England Boys’ Home in 1955. The name had been suggested a number of times by the Home Chaplain and it was given to the Home in an attempt to move away from its institutional image. Although, for official purposes, the incorporated name of the Home did not change, from 1955, it was always referred to as Kennion House. Kennion House continued to provide accommodation for boys until they left school. Younger boys attended St Andrews School and then Walkerville Primary School. Older boys

The Karingal Youth Hostel was opened by the Church of England in Hindmarsh in 1952. It was run by an independent management committee that reported to the Diocese of Adelaide. It provided accommodation for boys of 15 to 18 years, from the Church of England Boys’ Home at Walkerville and similar institutions, while they studied or completed apprenticeships. In 1964 the Hostel closed and Karingal became a nursing Home. The Karingal Youth Hostel was established by the Church of England in 1952 as a hostel for boys aged 15 to 18 who were studying or doing an apprenticeship and therefore on limited income. The majority of boys at Karingal came from the Walkerville Boys’ Home and other similar homes, however it also provided accommodation for “orphan, homeless, neglected or other needy youths”, and boys who, in order to work or study, had left their family homes but were unable to support themselves. At the end of its first year in operation there were four boys living at the hostel. From

This image was included in the Finding Your Own Way guide, section 1. This photo is undated, the date included is an estimate.

This image was included in the Finding Your Own Way guide, section 1. The image shows the front of the Hostel of the Holy Name.

The House of Mercy and Retreat for Women was established in Walkerville by the Church of England in 1881. It provided shelter for unmarried mothers during pregnancy and the first year of their babies’ lives. Babies stayed with their mothers, were placed at the Babies’ Home Walkerville or adopted. The House of Mercy closed in 1974. The House of Mercy and Retreat for Women was established at Stephen Terrace, Walkerville by the Church of England in August 1881. It was run by a management committee that reported to the Diocese of Adelaide. Its purpose was to provide shelter and care for unmarried mothers throughout their pregnancy and during the first year of their babies’ lives. The first resident was admitted in January 1882. A laundry was established in 1883. This became an integral part of the home providing funds to assist in the cost of running the retreat. Women living in the Home worked in the laundry, sewed, and cared for the gardens. In 1885 the matron of the Home described

This is an image of the former Girls’ Friendly Society Lodge building on Kermode Street, North Adelaide.

The Hostel of the Holy Name was the new name given to the Church of England Diocesan Mission House in 1949. The hostel was situated in Wellington Square, North Adelaide. Run by the Sisters of the Community of the Holy Name, it cared for teenage girls from the country who were studying or working in the city. In 1966 the Girls Friendly Society took over the running of the Hostel. The Hostel closed in 1975. The Hostel of the Holy Name was the new name given to the Church of England Diocesan Mission House in 1949. The hostel was situated in Wellington Square, North Adelaide. The hostel continued to be run by the Sisters of the Community of the Holy Name, but the focus of the institution changed. Instead of operating as a refuge, it turned to providing a home for teenage girls from the country who were studying or working in the city. On 31 December 1966 the Sisters ceased management of the hostel and signed an agreement with the Girls Friendly Society, handing over the property for

The Girls’ Friendly Society Lodge was opened by the Church of England Girls’ Friendly Society at Kermode Street, North Adelaide in 1913. It provided a home for country girls working or studying in the city. In 1916 the lodge moved to Pennington Terrace, North Adelaide. During World War II it provided accommodation for female munitions workers. The Lodge closed in 1975. The Girls’ Friendly Society began in England in 1875 and in South Australia in 1879. Its object was ‘to unite girls and women in a fellowship of Prayer, Service and Purity of Life for the Glory of God’. The first Girls’ Friendly Society Lodge in South Australia opened in rented premises in Kermode Street, North Adelaide in 1913. The concept of the hostel was to provide safe, home-like accommodation for girls, particularly those from country areas, who were studying or working in the City. This first building was very small and could only house a limited number of girls. In 1916 Mrs Robert Barr-Smith bought a house

The library description states: The gate of the picket front fence stands open showing a man and woman standing at the entrance of this twin gabled house with a group of girls. This photograph was possibly taken during the 69th annual meeting of the Orphan Home in August 1928.

Farr House was the new name given to The Orphan Home in 1935. It was situated on Fullarton Road, Upper Mitcham and operated as a Home for girls of primary school age. In later years it also accepted teenage girls. Farr House was run by an independent management committee that reported to the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide until 1978, when Anglican Child Care Services took over. The Home closed in 1982. Farr House was the new name given to the Orphan Home at Mitcham in 1935. The name change came about when the home was incorporated and recognised the work of Mrs Julia Farr who had played an integral part in the establishment and continuation of the Home. Like the Orphan Home, Farr House took in girls of primary school age. In 1938 the policy was to provide accommodation for girls between the ages of six and twelve. Younger and older girls were placed at St Mary’s Mission of Hope. As with the Orphan Home, girls attended daily and weekly worship and were trained in the domestic arts a

These images were published in the Finding Your Own Way guide, section 1. The top photo is from 1929, while the bottom photo is from 1928.

The Babies’ Home at Walkerville was established by the Church of England in Walkerville in 1912. It cared for, and often adopted out, babies born at the House of Mercy, a refuge for unmarried mothers. After the home closed in 1945, babies were placed at St Mary’s Mission of Hope. The Babies’ Home at Walkerville was established in 1912 by the Church of England at Gawler Terrace, Walkerville. It cared for babies born at the House of Mercy which operated in the same suburb. While the House of Mercy was a refuge for unmarried mothers, The Babies’ Home focused on after-care of their babies as well as other infants. The House of Mercy management committee ran the home until a separate committee was formed in 1915. The leading figure in its administration was Miss Nellie Barker. In 1914 the home was caring for 14 babies. The existing cottage was replaced in the early 1920s. In 1929 it was further extended to include a new annex named the Barker wing after Nellie Barker and her mother wh

This photograph is from the Betty McKenzie collection at the Queensland Museum and is published on The Cherbourg Memory website.

The Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement was located on the lands of the Wakka Wakka people, near the town of Murgon in south eastern Queensland. The Salvation Army missionary William J Thompson established a mission at Barambah in 1899. Initially it was sponsored by the Ipswich Aboriginal Protection Society. In 1904-1905 the Queensland government took over management of the Barambah Aboriginal Settlement, as Cherbourg was also known at that time. In 1986, Cherbourg became a DOGIT (Deed of Grant in Trust) and the community began managing its own affairs. The Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement was located in the South Burnett district of south east Queensland. In 1899, William J Thompson of the Salvation Army began negotiations with the Queensland government to establish an Aboriginal mission – 1280 acres of land at Barambah was gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve in March 1900. Thompson was the first superintendent and the mission was sponsored by the Ipswich Aboriginal Protection Society.

This image of Musgrave House, site of the Lady Musgrave Sanitorium for Sick Children, was previously published on the website of the Queensland Heritage Register.

This photo is undated, the date included is an estimate. The following description is included in the library catalogue: Children playing at the Red Cross Home in Margate.

The Lady Musgrave Sanitorium for Sick Children, in Shorncliffe, was built in 1884 as a convalescent home for children. The Sanitorium did not formally open until 1888. Lady Lucinda Musgrave was the first patroness of the Hospital for Sick Children, and personally secured the land at Shorncliffe which was given in trust by the government. It was an extension of the Brisbane Hospital for Sick Children. 162 children were accommodated at the Sanitorium in the year of 1920. The Brisbane Hospital Board decided to close the Sanitorium in 1931. In the nineteenth century, bayside suburbs such as Shorncliffe (and Sandgate) were seen as ideal locations for convalescence, because of prevailing ideas about health (including miasmic theories of disease). It was believed that recuperation from illness required fresh air, good ventilation, well lit buildings, sea bathing and outdoor enjoyment. The sanatorium was also used as a place of rest and training for nurses from the Children’s Hospital an

The Red Cross Home, at Margate Beach, Redcliffe opened around 1945. It was run by the Australian Red Cross and operated as a convalescent home for children from the Mater and Brisbane Hospitals. It also provided emergency care for children while their mothers were in hospital. The home closed in 1975. The Red Cross Home operated between the years 1945 and 1975. It was located on Margate Parade, directly opposite Margate Beach at Redcliffe. In 1945, the Courier Mail reported on the Red Cross’s plans to look after children while former prisoners of war holidayed with their wives. Thirty beds for children at the Margate Home were made available for this program in October 1945. The paper reported that one ex-servicemen had so far taken up the Red Cross offer and planned to have a ‘second honeymoon’ with his wife while their 2 children stayed at Margate Home. A newspaper article from November 1953 states that ‘The Home was originally the Junior Red Cross Home, but recently

The Walter T Robertson Red Cross Convalescent Home, in Toowoomba, opened in February 1943. It was run by the Red Cross Society (Queensland Division), and was the second Red Cross convalescent home in Queensland (the first was the Lady Wilson Home in Chelmer, Brisbane). The Robertson Home could house 24 people. Children were sometimes accommodated temporarily at this Home. According to the Australian Red Cross website, this Home closed in 1949. In 1945, the Red Cross Society invited applications from former prisoners of war to care for their children while they holidayed with their wives. The Red Cross offered free board at its Margate Home, and the WT Robertson Convalescent Home in Toowoomba, and stated that ‘all care would be taken with the children’. However, the Society ‘would not accept responsibility for sickness or injury’.

The Sandgate Maternal and Child Welfare Home, at Sandgate, opened in March, 1944 as a government-run convalescent and emergency care home for children. It accommodated children whose mothers were seriously ill and for whose care no other suitable arrangements could be made. From 1901 to 1942, the same building in Flinders Parade, Sandgate, had been the site of the Broadhurst Convalescent Home. From 1983 the facility became known as the Sandgate Centre and provided both long and short term residential care for intellectually impaired children. The Sandgate Maternal and Child Welfare Home was a government-run institution that cared for those children whose mothers were seriously ill and for whose care no other suitable arrangements could be made. The care provided was of a temporary nature and relieved pressure on the Diamantina Receiving Depot at Wooloowin that was caring for the children of servicemen whose wives were admitted to hospital. The Home was run by nursing sisters on a

This image of 138 Flinders Parade, Sandgate in 1994 shows the building that housed the Broadhurst Convalescent Home, the Sandgate Maternal and Child Welfare Home and the Sandgate Centre. Please note: This image was previously available online in the Queensland Heritage Register but has since been replaced.

The Broadhurst Convalescent Home, at Sandgate, opened in December, 1901. It was a government-run convalescent home for patients from Brisbane Hospital. The Home closed in 1942. The Brisbane Hospital Committee had maintained a convalescent home for patients in a rented home in Sandgate from 1885. It acquired its own property in late 1901 and the first transfer of patients to the Broadhurst Convalescent Home occurred in December of that year. According to the entry in the Heritage Register for 138 Flinders Parade, Sandgate: In the Annual Report of the Brisbane Hospital for 1910, the home was described as a valuable outwork of the Hospital…providing rest, nourishment and comfort during the days of convalescence of many of the patients. After the convalescent home closed in 1942, the property was transferred in 1943 to the Crown for maternal and child welfare purposes. The Sandgate Maternal and Child Welfare Home was established on the site in March 1944.

The Sandgate Centre, in Sandgate, opened in August 1983 and closed in April 1994. Previously, it was known as the Sandgate Maternal and Child Welfare Home. It was run by Intellectual Disability Services, which was part of the Queensland Health Department. In 1987, Intellectual Disability Services became part of the Family Services Department. The Sandgate Centre provided long and short term residential care for intellectually impaired children. It also operated as a family respite centre. In August 1983 the Sandgate Maternal and Child Welfare Home was transferred to the Intellectual Disability Services section of the Health Department and became known as the Sandgate Centre. In 1987 the Intellectual Disability Services was transferred to the Department of Family Services. The Sandgate Centre provided both long and short term residential care for intellectually challenged children, and a family respite centre. By the early 1990s, the Centre was considered to be outdated in terms of i

Mona Mona Mission, at Kuranda, was run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Mission opened in 1913 and children from the mission, aged 6 and up, were taken from their families and placed into single-sex dormitories. The last dormitory closed along with the Mission in 1962. The Mona Mona Mission was established in 1913 at Kuranda, a town on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, 25 kilometres from Cairns. Most of the people moved onto the Mission were Djabuganjdji people. A girls’ home or dormitory, consisting of four rooms with a dining room capable of seating 200, was built at the same time as the Mission was established. The girls remained in the dormitory until they married. Boys were trained in farming and saw-milling, with a saw mill on the Mission producing timber building products. In February 1920 the girls’ dormitory was destroyed when a cyclone levelled the Mission village and a new girls’ dormitory was not built until 1926. It is thought that a boys’

The following description is included in the library catalogue: Moving a Mission in York Peninsula. New station at Kowanyama, Mitchell River. Reverend H. Matthews house on right, church in the distance.

This is an aerial photograph showing the site of the Lockhart River mission. It shows a clearing of land at the base of Bare Hill (near the Lockhart River) with two rows of buildings at the rear of the site, another smaller of group of buildings to the right of these, and a couple of buildings scattered near the beach. The Lockhart River Mission Road can be seen running through the site. This image is one of a series of three images showing the site from different angles.

Mitchell River Mission, at Trubanaman, was established by the Church of England in 1905. In 1918 the mission relocated to a site on Magnificent Creek and was given the name Kowanyama (however, for many years after this move it was still referred to as Mitchell River Mission). In 1966, the Anglican Church approached the government to take control of the mission and responsibility for the mission was handed over to the Queensland Government on 1 May 1967. The mission became a government administered reserve known as Kowanyama. In January 1903 an Aboriginal reserve on the Mitchell River was gazetted. The Church of England established a mission at Trubanaman near Topsy Creek in 1905. Although the Church administered the Mission, it was answerable to the State who subsidised them. Children living on the Mission were separated from their parents and housed in segregated dormitories for the purposes of education. This practice was also viewed as a means of isolating the children from th

The Lockhart River Mission, on Cape York Peninsula, was run by the Church of England, and operated a dormitory system to house Mission children. It opened in 1924 and control was handed over the the State Government in 1967. The Lockhart River Mission followed the usual pattern for Church of England missions, which was to establish a school for the children. The introduction of dormitory accommodation usually ensured the regular attendance of children at school, and additional vocational training. A girls’ dormitory was officially established at the Lockhart River Mission in 1930. In 1938 the dormitory was temporarily closed due to claims from Church administrators that the girls were not being looked after adequately. Annual Reports indicate that additional sleeping accommodation was added to the girls’ dormitory during 1938. In 1942 the Mission was closed for a period of around six months due to threats associated with World War Two. The Mission inhabitants were encouraged t

Alexander Cottage, at Manly West, is run by the Open Brethren (Council of Silky Oaks Children’s Haven). It replaced Grey Cottage and is situated on the site of the Silky Oaks Haven for Children. Alexander Cottage opened in 1991. In 2014 it was still operating. .

Grey Cottage, at Manly West, was run by the Open Brethren (Council of Silky Oaks Children’s Haven). It was situated on the site of Silky Oaks Haven for Children. Grey Cottage opened in 1960 and was renamed Alexander Cottage in 1991.

The Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement was run by the Queensland Government. It was gazetted as an Aboriginal Reserve in 1914 but was not properly established until 1918. In 1922 an Industrial School license was issued and the island’s children were rounded up and confined in segregated dormitories. The dormitories closed in 1975 but it was not until 1985 that the Queensland Government handed control of Palm Island to a Community Council via a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT). Palm Island is situated 65 kilometres north east of Townsville, in the Palm Island Group. It was proclaimed an Aboriginal Reserve in 1914. In 1922 Palm Island was licensed as an Industrial School. In 1923 the Lucinda Point boatshed was relocated and converted into a girls’ quarters. A new larger girls’ quarters was ready for occupation in early 1928 along with a dormitory for babies and young mothers. According to reports in the 1930s, both the girls and boys dormitories were sub-standard in both condition

The Charters Towers Rehabilitation Unit, at Charters Towers, was run by the State Government of Queensland. It was erected on the old site of the Charters Towers Mental Hospital and opened in 2001.

This image was published in The Brisbane Courier on 11 November 1922, p. 19, with the article ‘Aged People’s Home’. It shows the building that was previously the Brisbane Industrial School.

The Baillie Henderson Hospital, in Toowoomba, is a public specialist psychiatric hospital. It opened in 1968 and was still operating in 2014.

The Brisbane Industrial Home, in Fortitude Valley was run by a committee of private citizens and was government funded. The home operated as a rescue home for women. It opened in 1883 and closed in 1922. The Brisbane Industrial Home was originally situated at Clydesdale House in Fortitude Valley. It operated as a rescue home for young women and girls and was run by a committee of private citizens. The home opened 18 July 1883. The Home accommodated ‘fallen’ women who were deemed to have ‘lost their good reputation and fallen from the grace of God’. While at the home many girls worked in the laundry, which generated income for the institution. Other girls were sent out to domestic service. Lady Jeanie Lucinda Musgrave, wife of the then Governor of Queensland, was patroness of the home. An article in the Queensland Figaro and Punch on 26 September 1885, p. 31, describes the Brisbane Industrial Home: This is an institution which has for its object the rescue o