2-4 Milford Street, 1986, courtesy of Randwick City Library - Randwick Photo Gallery.
Details
Avoca Nursing Home, in Randwick, was a private hospital. According to research done by the staff of the Northern Territory Department of Health, it was a place where children from the Northern Territory were sent, but little is known about its use as a children's home or hospital. By 1988 Avoca Nursing Home had become an aged care facility.
Avoca Nursing Home was established in a lavish Victorian mansion called 'Urara'. It had been built in 1879 by John See, who was Mayor of Randwick in 1880, 1881 and 1886, and became an MP in 1880. John See was premier of New South Wales from 1901-1904 and was knighted in 1902. After See's death in 1907 the property was sold.
In a 1998 Heritage Study of Randwick, conducted by Perumal Murphy & Wu, Avoca Nursing Home was described as an aged care facility that was in excellent condition, despite features of 'institutional vandalism'. The building was restored in 1998 by the owners, Thompson Health Care, and in 2014 remains an aged care facility, Milford House.
Sources used to compile this entry: Milford House: Thompson Health Care, Thompson Health Care, http://www.thompsonhealthcare.com.au/thompson_houses/milford-house/; Perumal Murphy & Wu, 'Avoca Nursing Home', in Randwick Heritage Study, Randwick Municipal Council, 1988, https://web.archive.org/web/20180620060907/http://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/17899/2-4-Milford-Street.pdf; Communication from Find & Connect South Australian team about research by staff of the Northern Territory Department of Health into institutions where children from the Northern Territory were sent, dated 10 April 2012.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry
Created: 2 April 2014
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE01551b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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