Coventry Home, c. 1933 - c. 1950, courtesy of Bruce Cady, Armidale District Historical Society.
Details
Coventry Home, in Armidale, was set up in 1933 by the Church of England, and was run by a management committee. From 1950, this committee also ran the Ohio Boys Home at nearby Walcha. Coventry appears to have been established as a girls' home, but also housed some boys, including those from Ohio Boys' Home which closed in the mid-1960s. Coventry Home closed around 1985.
In 1955, according to the ABC, three boys ran away from Walcha, resulting in the conviction of the husband of the matron of Coventry and Walcha for assault. Ten men later reached a settlement with the Anglican Church over their treatment in the Home. These boys were later sent to Coventry Home.
According to Bruce Cady of the Armidale District Historical Society, quoted on the CLAN website, Coventry Home took both boys and girls after 1965 and provided crisis care for children for the Department of Community Services during the 1980s.
Coventry Home celebrated its 50th anniversary with a publication produced in 1983.
Sources used to compile this entry: Brown, Helen, Coventry Home: the first 50 years, Armidale, 1983, 21 pp; Hanson, Dallas, Why are they in children's homes: report of the ACOSS children's home intake survey, Australian Department of Social Services: Australian Council of Social Services, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1979, 83 pp; Homes and Orphanages Listings, Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN), https://clan.org.au/homes-and-orphanages/; Walsh, Nonee, Abuse victims angered by church confidentiality clauses, 27 October 2004, http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1228751.htm; Coventry Home Armidale [Facebook page], 2011, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coventry-Home-Armidale/265836220124505.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 27 January 2013, Last modified: 14 November 2019
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE01236b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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