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New South Wales - Archival Collection

Barnardos Australia, Records (c. 1883 - )

From
c. 1883

Barnardo's Australia is a collection of records held by Barnardo's Australia that relate to the orphanages, children's homes and Child Migration Schemes run and or participated in by Barnardo's Australia. The type of records in this collection include shipping lists and a card index of all child migrants, photographs, films and memorabilia. Case files relating to individual care leavers are not held in this collection, but can be found in a related collection held by the State Library of New South Wales.

Details

Access Conditions

Care leavers and their relatives should contact Barnardo's Australia to access these records. Care leavers may be required to provide proof of identity to protect the privacy of people who may be mentioned in these records. Relatives may also need to provide evidence of their relationship to a care leaver.

Records

This collection of records relates to multiple homes, and the Child Migration Scheme that involved or where run by Barnardos Australia and Barnardos UK. Homes include:

  • Atherstone House (1962 - 1977);
  • Barnardo House, Ashfield (1924 - 1960s);
  • Fairfax House (1968 - 1976);
  • Greenwood (1951 - 1968);
  • Hartwell House (1960 - 1970);
  • Hohnen House (1988 - );
  • Illawong (1963 - 1974);
  • Kingston House (1987 - );
  • Ladd House (1968 - 1976);
  • Mowbray Park (1929 - 1959);
  • Rickard House (1962 - 1978);
  • Scone Farm School (c. 1959 - 1982); and
  • Tarana (1960 - 1977).

Records in this collection may also relate to the Temporary Family Care (1978 - ), Boarding Out Family Grant Scheme (c. 1964 - ), and Find-A-Family (1975- ) programs.

Welfare support and After Care

Barnardos Australia has a Welfare Director and an Aftercare Co-ordinator who deal with enquiries from ex-clients of Barnardos. They are available to visit clients (where practical), to correspond with clients, to provide welfare and migration advice, counselling and referral to appropriate services where necessary. Barnardos Aftercare Services for ex-child migrants is operated through Barnardos' Head Office at Bay St. Barnardos recognises its responsibility to adults who have been past clients of the agency and provides ongoing support, information and counselling.

Is Held By

  • Barnardos Australia (c. 1995 - )

    The archival collection held by Barnardos Australia includes photographs, films and memorabilia relating to Barnardos and its predecessors. Note that client files are held by the State Library of NSW, however access to client files is administered by Barnardos Australia.

Related Contact Details

Publications

Books

  • Lyon, Doreen, With the Best of Intentions: Stories from Dr Barnardo's Farm School At Mowbray Park, near The Oaks, NSW 1929-1959 / collected by Doreen Lyon for The Oaks Historical Society, The Oaks Historical Society, The Oaks, 2010, 87 pp. Details

Online Resources

Sources used to compile this entry: Barnardos Australia: We Belive in Children, Barnardos Australia, c.2014, http://www.barnardos.org.au/; 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: Melissa Downing