The Nest (Arncliffe Girls Home), 1916? - 1941?, courtesy of Care Leavers Australaisa Network (CLAN).
Details
Arncliffe Girls' Home, also known as The Nest Girls' Home, was a Salvation Army Home for girls that opened in 1941 in the building that had been The Nest Children's Home. The Nest Girls' Home closed in 1969 and was converted to aged care.
The Nest Girls' Home was in a building called Dappeto that was once an oyster merchants' home, and the home of author Christina Stead's stepmother.
The Home closed temporarily during World War II. On 25, 26 and 27 March 1942, 30 girls from The Nest, together with 44 girls from The Fold at Marrickville and three children from Bethesda Hospital, were transferred to Canowindra Girls' Home (Lyndon House Girls' Home). In January 1945 The Nest Girls' Home re-opened, and sixteen girls were transferred back from Canowindra to Arncliffe.
Arncliffe Girls' Home closed in January 1969 and the girls were transferred to the Stanmore Children's Home (The Lodge Young Women's Hostel). The building, Dappeto, was restored and redeveloped as an aged care home.
Arncliffe Girls' Home was mentioned in the Lost Innocents Report (2001) as an institution involved in the migration of children to Australia.
1916 - 1930 Arncliffe Girls' Industrial Home
1930 - 1941 The Nest Children's Home
1941 - 1969 Arncliffe Girls' Home
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Victorian Domestic Architecture: Dappeto, built 1885. Girls' Home, Retirement Village', in Postcode 2205: Arncliffe, Turrella, Wolli Creek, 'Sally', 22 February 2008, http://arncliffesydney.blogspot.com.au/2008/02/victorian-domestic-architecture-dappeto.html; Immigration Museum, Stolen childhoods, Museum Victoria, 2011-2012, https://museumsvictoria.com.au/article/stolen-childhoods/; The Salvation Army Australia Eastern Territory, 'Submission 46: EASTERN TERRITORY SOCIAL CENTRES: A list of openings, closings, and function', in Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care - Submissions received by the committee as at 17/3/05, Senate Community Affairs Committee, Commonwealth of Australia, June 2003, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 10 March 2011, Last modified: 25 October 2017
Last updated: 31 May 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE00224b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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