King Edward Home, 1930? - 1975?, courtesy of Care Leavers Australaisa Network (CLAN).
Details
King Edward Home was established at Newcastle by the Child Welfare Department around 1930. It was a home for 28 girls aged from babyhood to 18 years. Some of the girls went on to Lynwood Hall, and some entered foster care. King Edward Home closed some time after 1985.
King Edward Home was established by the Child Welfare Department (later known as the Department of Community Services). It was probably established in the period between the two World Wars.
Donald McLean, who reviewed the home in 1955, said that it was for 'girls who have not proved amenable to foster placement or have traits which make them unsuitable for foster placement.' His take on the home was very positive, but made it clear that the home was for girls who were deprived and, sometimes, disturbed by their lives thus far, and that many suffered yearnings for their natural family. McLean noted that many of the girls achieved at high school while others went on to Lynwood Hall, and some entered foster care successfully.
We have not been able to pinpoint the closure date of King Edward Home. A former resident of the Home contacted the Find & Connect web resource in May 2014 to advise that she had, at age twelve, lived at the Home from January to December 1974 and that it ran for at least a year after that, with house parents in charge. Another former resident contact Find & Connect web resource in March 2019 to advise that she had lived at the Home from 1982 until 1985.
Sources used to compile this entry: Report of the Department of Youth and Community Services for the year ended 30 June, New South Wales government, 1976-1988. Also available at https://www.opengov.nsw.gov.au/main; Child Welfare Department, Annual Report: Child Welfare Department of New South Wales, New South Wales government, 1923-1970. Also available at https://www.opengov.nsw.gov.au/main; Dormitory: Newcastle Home for Girls [Image], Date: July 1938; McLean, Donald, Children In Need: An account of the administration and functions of the Child Welfare Department, New South Wales, Australia: with an examination of the principles involved in helping deprived and wayward children, Government Printer, Sydney, 1955, 173 pp. p. 48.; 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; Email correspondence with former residents of King Edward Home - May 2014; March 2019.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 23 March 2011, Last modified: 7 March 2019
Last updated: 18 January 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE00419b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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