Stonehaven Sydney City Mission Children's Home, c. 1929 - c. 1951, courtesy of State Library of New South Wales.
Details
Stonehaven, run by the Sydney City Mission, was located at Springwood in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, and was opened in 1929. Initially occupied by girls, it became a boys' home. From 1942-1945 the children were sent to Cronulla Children's Home and Stonehaven was occupied by the Defence Forces. In 1951 Stonehaven closed. Boys were sent to Haddon Hall.
Stonehaven was, according to the Sydney City Mission, a home for undernourished boys from congested areas of the city. The aim of the home was to build the children up physically and give them moral, religious training. The boys were expected to do household and gardening chores and the discipline was what could be described as harsh. Children attended Springwood Public School and went to the Methodist church every morning and afternoon. Most boys stayed for three months, but some stayed longer.
Blue Mountains historian Shirley Evans advertised in The Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Telegraph for information from people who had stayed in Red Cross children's homes in the Blue Mountains. Those who had been in Juong and Stonehaven said Juong was a happier place. However, homesickness was said to have been a problem for all the children.
When Stonehaven closed the building was bought by the Department of Main Roads and demolished as part of a road deviation scheme.
Sources used to compile this entry: Owen, June, The Heart of the City: the first 125 years of the Sydney City Mission, Kangaroo Press, 1987; 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; Correspondence from Shirley Evans to Naomi Parry, 28 September 2012.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 21 March 2011, Last modified: 18 May 2014
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE00355b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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