Roland Boys' Home

Roland Boys’ Home, run by the Anglican Church, opened in Sheffield in 1951. It accommodated orphans and state wards from the age of six. The Home closed in the early 1990s.

Roland Boys’ Home opened officially on 9 June 1951 at 69 High Street, Sheffield opposite the park and 200 yards from the state school which the boys attended. It was a certified institution under the Infants’ Welfare Act 1935 and an approved children’s home under the Child Welfare Act 1960. Although the Anglican Church ran the Home, boys of any denomination could be placed there.

It seems likely that at the time Roland was established, the Managers considered applying for British child migrants. In 1951, John Moss, a British child welfare expert, visited Tasmania to inspect Homes that took child migrants. In a letter written in 1952 to FH Southey, the Director of the Tasmanian Government Tourist and Immigration Department, he said:

What happened about the scheme for taking migrant boys at the newly acquired Home near Launceston? As we agreed, when we were there, it wanted considerable improvement before it could be considered suitable for migrants.

His description of the Home as ‘newly acquired’ seems to fit Roland. However, there is no evidence that child migrants were ever sent to Roland.

When boys at Clarendon Children’s Home reached school age, they were sent to Roland Boys’ Home.

James Boyce wrote that, since Roland was in the north of the state, it probably received Aboriginal children removed by the government from Cape Barren Island and the Furneaux Group. The Report of the Stolen Generations Assessor of 2008 mentions Roland Boys’ Home.

Roland Children’s Home was an approved children’s Home under the Child Welfare Act 1960.

In 1988, Roland changed from institutional to cottage accommodation. There were four family group homes with four to six children who lived with the house parents and their children. In 1991, there were 13 children in these homes with an average age of 13 years.

In the early 1990s, the emphasis in child welfare practice on supporting children in their own homes and communities led the Managers of Roland to consider new directions for working with families on the north-west coast. These considerations led to the closure of the home around 1993.