Local History – The Destitute Children’s Society

By Randwick Library Local Studies on November 3, 2011 in Other

The Society for the Relief of Destitute children was founded by Dr Henry Grattan Douglass in 1852 due to concerns for the increasing number of orphans and neglected children in Sydney. Many of the children came from poverty-stricken families, others were orphaned, and some had lost fathers to the gold rushes.

The original home for the children was in Paddington, however it was the influence of Simeon Pearce that led the New South Wales Government to grant the society 60 acres of land in Randwick in May 1856. Simeon Pearce was the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the District of Sydney at the time, and a future Mayor of Randwick. Pearce was seeking to raise the profile of Randwick in the city of Sydney and saw the asylum as an excellent opportunity to do this. The asylum became the most fashionable charity in the colony of New South Wales and Pearce was successful in achieving his goal.

The cornerstone for construction of the asylum was laid on May 8, 1856, by Governor General Sir William Denison, and by March 28, 1858, it was ready for use. The main sandstone building was designed by architect Edmund Blacket. The first stage was designed to house 400 children and comprised a dining room, nursery, infants dormitory, infants schoolroom, day dormitory, girls schoolroom, girls dining room, washing room, office, store, kitchen, sitting room, and offices.

By 1858 the north and east wings were added to the building, housing another 400 children. The majority of children were aged 4-10 years. Girls were trained in domestic duties – cooking, sewing and laundry – while the boys tended the vegetable garden and were trained in boot making, tailoring, carpentry and in the bakery. The plaiting of straw to make hats and other products for sale was undertaken by both boys and girls.

Children at the asylum undertook schooling and training, undergoing an organised apprenticeship programme. At the age of 12 or 13 years children were sent out as apprentices to individuals who had paid one guinea to become ‘subscribers’ to the asylum. Apprenticeships lasted for six years, during which time the children were paid an allowance, the majority of which was paid into a savings account and the remainder to the child. The account was available to the child at the end of the apprenticeship provided they had received a commendation from the employer.

During the 1870s there was great public concern about the care given to children in large asylums such as Randwick. With around 800 children in care at any time, social reformers felt the system did little to cater for the individual and emotional needs of the children. There were also muttering about ‘slave labour’ and cruelty. Henry Parkes set up a Royal Commission to report on the defects of child-saving in NSW in the early 1870s, and this sparked a change to the apprenticeship system. A boarding-out system was introduced in 1883 following the Royal Commission, with greater efforts made to place children into foster care. This was the start of the end for the asylum, and by the 1890s only 250 children remained in facilities designed for 800.

During the 63 years the asylum operated almost 6000 children passed through it.

In 1915 the New South Wales Government took over the buildings and assets of the asylum and converted the institution into a military hospital, renamed The Fourth Australian Repatriation Hospital. Between 1923 and 1939 the old asylum functioned as a repatriation hospital, then a military hospital during World War Two, and back to repatriation in 1945. In 1953 the facility was renamed the Prince of Wales Hospital, to be managed as an annex of Sydney Hospital.