Pallister House, c. 2012, courtesy of Anglican Deaconess Ministries.
Details
Pallister Church of England Girls' Home was a girls' home run by the Church of England Deaconess Institution. It was formerly the Deaconess Children's Home (or Agincourt) in Strathfield. In 1946, Pallister Church of England Girls Home moved to Greenwich. The new premises were a house called Standish, in the grounds of Greenwich Hospital, and from that point the home was known as Pallister House or Lisgar Trust. Pallister House took girls who had been referred from the Children's Court. Pallister House was closed and Pallister Young People's Unit and Special School opened in the same building in 1977.
The Deaconesses renamed Lisgar as Pallister Girls Home in 1935. This was a home for girls who were described as 'difficult', most of who were referred by the Children's Courts. It operated from 1936 to 1946 at Strathfield and then in Standish/Pallister House, in the grounds of Greenwich Hospital, until 1976. From 1977 to 1982 the Deaconesses converted the Pallister House building to Pallister Young People's Unit and Special School.
Win Evans recalls that Agincourt was renamed Pallister after a former Deaconess in charge of Deaconess Children's Homes. In 2011 the Agincourt site was used by the Jesmond Nursing Home.
Pallister Girls' Home closed its Strathfield home in 1945 and moved to Standish House in the grounds of Greenwich Hospital, where it became Pallister House, also known as Lisgar Trust.
According to historian Peter Quinn, Pallister House was one of the few non-government organisations to be funded by the Child Welfare Department to provide juvenile justice services.
In the 1980s the Church of England Deaconess Institution changed its name to Anglican Deaconess Ministries Ltd. This organisation holds annual reports of Pallister, and some group photographs of children who lived in the homes.
1914 - 1929 Lisgar Children's Home
1929 - 1936 Deaconess Children's Home, Strathfield
1936 - 1977 Pallister Church of England Girls' Home
1977 - 1981 Pallister Young People's Unit and Special School
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Anglican Deaconess Ministries History', Anglican Deaconess Ministries Ltd, 2009, http://web.archive.org/web/20140225231547/http://www.deaconessministries.org.au/history/history; Evans, Win, A Rejected Childhood, W. Evans/Parker Pattinson, Hurstville, 2001, 255 pp; 'Other Ministries Begun By Sydney Anglican Deaconesses', http://web.archive.org/web/20140309214733/http://www.deaconessministries.org.au/history/other-ministries; Quinn, Peter E, Unenlightened efficiency: the administration of the juvenile correction system in New South Wales 1905-1988, University of Sydney, History, 27 March 2006, http://hdl.handle.net/2123/623; Feedback via email from former resident of Pallister Church of England Girls' Home, 14 September 2013.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 23 August 2013, Last modified: 17 May 2014
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE01397b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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