However, some twelve months after the committee’s formation, a cable arrived from the London office of Dr Banardo’s telling the Australian President Sir Arthur Rickard to disband his Committee and liquidate the Australian organisation. It appeared that the London Committee was concerned that the legal basis of the Australian Committee was not sound and would need reorganising. But the heavy-handed manner in which this decision was communicated nearly spelt the end of a promising scheme. Fortunately, Mr Percy Roberts the London Office‘s Migration Director, was still in Australia after having brought out a second party; because he and the Australian President had a good rapport. Nevertheless, the indelicate way in which the initial cable from London was phrased caused some committee members and the Australian Organising Secretary, Mrs Macdonald to feel that their integrity had been publicly impugned, and as a result, they resigned with an equal measure of publicity explaining their account of the matter. Mr Roberts was able to act as an intermediary and helped to dampen down what could have become a very explosive situation. Unfortunately, these negotiations took some time because of the distance involved. During this period, the bank accounts were frozen and consequently no funds existed to pay the wages of the office staff. At one stage, out of desperation, one Committee member resorted to getting Miss Hutchison to take the hat around at his club in order to raise that week’s wages for the girls in the office, to make things worse another party of children were about to arrive.
Mr A.W. Green with a few of the first Dr Barnardo’s Homes girls at Ashfield
The History of Dr Barnardo's Homes in Australia
Compiled by Cliff Remmer
After compiling a comprehensive photo history of Dr Barnardos Homes in Australia, I have collate all the research material that I have collected from many sources, publications, newspaper items, donated items from friends and interviews over many years.I thought I should leave a record of Dr Barnardo’s in Australia as it is part of our Australian History, following the closure of the migration scheme in 1965.
No records exist in Australia which can accurately mark the date on which Dr Barnardo first sent children from his London Homes, young children to the vast continent of Australia. We are, however, fortunate in having a document – published in his own words – which certainly details one of the earliest occasions on which children were emigrated here. The document is a fund-raising pamphlet published around 1892 in London by Dr Barnardo entitled “Twelve Sheep from Australia”. This pamphlet describes the visit to London from Australia, in 1871 of a childless but wealthy farming couple named Horace Stephens: they volunteered to assist the Doctor with his East End visits to the derelict lodging houses, which in those days, were the only cheap night accommodation available to the poor. Dr Barnardo dexterously guided the couple into a meeting with three young children of strong moral fibre but were very destitute, their names Timothy, John and Bessie Regan. Horace Stephens built up such a rapport with these young children and requested they be allowed to take them back to Australia in July 1871. The unusual title of the pamphlet hails from the fact that in 1888, as a token of his appreciation for Barnardo’s kindness, Timothy Regan sent over at his own expense twelve whole sheep carcases to help feed the Doctor’s increasing members. They were sent in the new refrigerated vessel.
At page 32 of the pamphlet it says: - They often urged me to attempt to plant colonies of my rescued boys (for at the time I had only boys under my care) in distant Australia. Gladly, they said they would become my agents to co-operate in promoting the success of such a beneficent scheme? Stimulated by their words and encouraged by their practical assistance, I did indeed within the next few years, send several parties of boys as emigrants to Australia: but the great expense, the length of the journey, and the difficulty of supervision, proved such grave hindrances as effectually to check at that time the wider developments of the scheme. (The they, referred to are Mr & Mrs Horace Stephens). Sketchy details of further parties sent out are contained in the Barnardo Annual Report for the year:- Thirteen of delicate constitution to South Africa and Western A ustralia (1883-4) five girls to Australia (1883-4), a steady efflux to Canada with a smaller streams to South Africa and Australia(1884-5)
The very successful Centenary celebrations, which marked the arrival of an unofficial party in September 1883 aboard the sailing ship Charlotte Padbury of nine young men. Some sparse details are available of the boys who sailed as steerage passengers to Freemantle. Most of the boys had been admitted to Barnardo;s care scarcely twelve months before, with the exception of one boy who was of delicate health, most were between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. One had been employed previously as a pastry cook for a steam boat company and another in a biscuit factory for a short time. Strangely, one of the boys in the party photograph taken before their departure in June, Peter Lynch, (File No. 2201, does not appear on the ship’s passenger list. So it is quite possible he may have misbehaved and forfeited the opportunity of emigrating. Nothing is known of their adventures in Western Australia where they embarked.
The second party which also embarked in Western Australia in 1896, has left us with no records of their life in Australia, there is some mention that both parties made their way to Queensland, you would imagine it would have been very tough for them as they had no support whatsoever. There are some small scraps of information relating to five hundred Barnardo Boys who arrived in Australia prior to 1921,
There can be no doubt that by the 1890”s the people of Australia were becoming more and more aware of the successful efforts of Lord Shaftesbury, General Booth and Dr Barnardo to ease the suffering of the poor street people in the London’s slums. In Mrs Barnardo’s book on Dr Barnardo she records that when the Musical Boys reached Melbourne (the site of the Federal Parliament) the Chairman for his meeting was the prominent Federal Member for Maranoa, James Page, who proudly told the crowd of the circumstances when he first encountered Dr Barnardo as a child in the East End of London.(He and a companion were robbing a Frenchman of his bag at the time) Page later passed through one of Barnardos Homes and joined the British Army, fought in the Zulu Wars before coming to Australia in 1883 aged 22. By the time he stood on that platform in Melbourne, he had helped form the Australian Labour Part, and was elected to the first Commonwealth Parliament for a Queensland seat and becoming quite a wealthy man. These two instances of widespread favourable publicity for the Barnardo organisation were to lay the foundations for the second phase of Barnardo’s work in Australia. At this stage, however, the state politicians were reluctant to vote for a subsidised immigration scheme for Barnardo’s children. The sole useful avenue for the support of the work of this great philanthropist, Barnardo, was through financial contributions. James Page, who gave ten pounds to Barnardo,s every year of his life in Australia, when he died a Queensland Labour newspaper summed up the general feeling of his colleagues: Another Good Man Gone ran the headlines. He was the first ordinary member of parliament: - as opposed to a Cabinet Minister or the Prime Minister: to be granted a State Funeral. At which the pall-bearers were the present and former Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
The
In Late 1920 the Director of Dr Barnardo’s Homes in England sent an Organising Secretary to Australia to try and raise urgently needed funds both for the British homes and to continue the migration scheme to Canada. With the memories of the successful fund raising tour in 1892 and 1908 by the “Musical Boys” from the East End Juvenile Mission, and the solid example of a Barnardo boy who made good and became the Federal Government Chief Whip James Page, Australia was a logical target for this embattled organisation to appeal to.
The Organising Secretary dispatched was a Miss Mabel Cameron, her first appointment in Australia was with the President of the Millions Club in Sydney, Sir Arthur Rickard. As soon as Sir Arthur heard the funds being requested were to send Barnardo children to Canada, he exclaimed:” Bring the boys to Australia and you will find we will help you right royally. The idea took Miss Cameron completely unprepared and so, at Sir Arthurs urging, she cabled London. Within a short time a reply intimating the approval of the London committee, saw the commencement of negotiations for the establishment in New South Wales of a branch of the Dr Banardo’s Homes organisation. The Australian Dr Barnardo’s Homes Archives do not contain the historically important Minute Book and papers pertaining to the negotiations in 1920 and 1921, which resulted in the setting up of the Australian committee and the modern day scheme to send regular parties of children to New South Wales. A Section of the 1926 Annual Report states (for the purposes of record we would remind members that the first meeting of the Society was held on 11th April 1921.
Sir Arthur Rickard (The Guiding Hands ) Mr Arthur William Green
The reason for this, is that enthusiastic gentleman in Sydney formed their own committee unilaterally in early 1921, drafted their own charter with Articles of Association, which essentially established an independent migration organisation in Sydney with a Committee using the Barnardo name but in no way responsible or responsive, to the London Committee of Barnardo’s.
The first thing needed were funds, and so following favourable publicity in the press, a large meeting was called in the Sydney Town Hall Vestibule on the 11th of April 1921.The Governor General, Lord Forster presided and also present were the Governor of New South Wales Sir Walter Davidson and his wife Dame Margaret, Mr H R Dennison Proprietor of the Sydney Sun Paper, Mr O G Beale a Sydney Businessman, Sir Dennison Miller the Governor of the Commonwealth Bank, Miss Mabel Cameron representing the British Organisation, Mrs Beatrice Macdonald the Australian Organising Secretary, Mr William Vicars an Industrialist, Sir Arthur Rickard President of the Millions Club, Dr Richard Arthur, MLA, a parliamentary champion of British Immigration, and A W Green a former Secretary of the New South Wales Government Child Welfare Department for forty Years, and several other influential citizens. Lord Forster spoke, in the hope of the beneficent effect a Barnardo’s scheme would have on the future of the race. As an alternative of taking Australian Money for British boys, in the hope they might come out as settlers, it was considered better to bring them to Australia as soon as possible. The success of the Canadian scheme was sited where –30.000 boys and girls had gone with only a two percent failure rate. As if to give the meeting a sense of urgency it was announced that fifty boys had already been cabled for, and the immigrants were to be aged between eight and ten years. The British Government had agreed to pay the fares of the children.
The Governor of New South Wales spoke of a similar scheme set up in Western Australia called the Fairbridge scheme, which he said, had been crowned with success. At the end of the meeting a Committee was formed, Sir Dennison Miller Hon Treasurer, Sir Edgeworth Davadison, Sir Owan Cox, Sir George Fuller, Sir Henry Branddon, Sir Arthur Rickard, Dr Richard Arthur, Colonel Murdoch, Messrs Harry Musgrove, Benjamin Fuller, J. J. Garvan C. A. M Graham, O.C. Beale, William Vickers, A.W. Green, Gard Trouten, D Levy, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, H C Macfie, Alfred Shakel, and Roy N Teece Hon Secretary.
THE FIRST OFFICIAL PARTY OF Dr BARNARDO BOYS ARRIVING IN SYDNEY ON THE 19th AUGUST 1921
This marks a new era in the history of Barnardo's Homes, 'the largest family on earth'.It was nothing for this splendid organisation to send troops of boys accros the Atlantic to Canada. That was a mere week's voyage accros the pond. But Australia, 'down under' as they think of us in England, fourteen to sixteen thousand miles away via the Cape was a serious proposition. A school had to be established on board to keep the boys occupied during the the two months trip.
They marched to Government House for a reception by the Governor Sir Walter Davidson. They marched between files of Abbotsholme Collage Cadets and the difference in physique was quite noticeable. Many a heart swelled in sympathy for the little strangers who had come here to become good Australians. They brought a lump to the throat of many careing farther and mother, for these gallant little men who have come a venturing among us.
In desperation Sir Arthur Rickard sailed for England where it was suggested two eminent Trustees be appointed, reliable auditors, and an experienced Secretary. It is with this background that A W Green was appointed Secretary of the Dr Barnardo’s Homes, N.S.W. Committee, a position he worked in until his death at 77 years, in August 1935. Mr A.W Green was a prominent cricket administrator; representing North Sydney and Cumberland at the Cricket Association, he donated the Green Shield. He was also interested in the Metropolitan Rugby Union, and the Orchestra Society. His son Dr Raymond Green continued his connection with Barnardos becoming a Committee Member and later Chairman until 1957.
The first meeting of the reorganised Society was held on 21st February 1923, under the presidency of Sir Arthur Rickard. Ever since that date we have been trying to get a satisfactory constitution to put the Society on a sound and permanent basis. An application is being made to the Home Association to enable this Committee to function in such a way as to become the body corporate representing the Barnardo Homes Association in New South Wales. There can be no question that this Committee must have greater power, so the work may be properly conducted. At the present time we are doing the very best we can, but without any real power to carry on. At the present time a power of attorney is being prepared with a view to giving the New South Wales Committee a better control of its affairs. The want of such a power of attorney has been felt ever since the restarting of the work. As soon as the Home Association grants this, there is no reason why we should not expand very materially)
Finally, the whole matter was sorted out. Sir Arthur Rickard was appointed Chairman, Sir William Vicare a Trustee Mr A W Green was made Superintend of Children and Mr Harry Cuzens became the Treasurer, so from then on
the finances were all legally sanctioned and safeguarded, it should be pointed out that there was no suggestion of mismanagement or impropriety by the previous Committee. A Power of Attorney was granted to Sir William Vicars and A.W Green. The object of the Committee were spelt out as to bring to N.S.W boys and girls selected from Dr Barnardo’s Homes in London, to care for , maintain and educate them after their arrival, and to provide a home to which they may return to if required, to arrange for their adoption under beneficial conditions and subject to
inspection and supervision, to secure them employment in the country, and generally to carry out the objects for which the Barnardo’s homes were founded, also to collect funds for thous purposes, acquire land, build and maintain homes and such other things as be incidental to the attainment of the above objectives. In a small publication in the Mitchell Library, entitled “The Millions Magazine” Journal of the Millions Club, on page 5, of May 2nd 1921, is a picture of Scarbrough House. The text reads: - Dr Barnardo’s, the institution which houses the largest family on earth, is to have an Australian depot at Scarbrough House Sandringham.
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. Another home was acquired at Alt Street Ashfield called Melrose and was renamed Barnardo House. Melrose House is one of those beautiful family residences for which Sydney was celebrated till the boom of commercialism swiped most of them away. Solid walls, large rooms, broad passages, shady verandas, a home planed on the generous lines of those spacious days when the term domestic help held no terrors for the happy housewife, when housekeeping meant a round of pleasant duties conscientiously preformed, yet I defy the most prosaic visitor to Barnardo House to stand unmoved when our matron throws open the door of what was once the Melrose ball room to disclose a long row of neat white beds ready for the reception of a company of little English Orphans. Our prosaic visitors sensations put into words will read something like this: “Thanks to Dr Barnardo, we have saved this beautiful place from destruction, and we are putting it to a noble use. When he (or it could be a she) look up at the ballroom’s celling, she will say: Imagine waking every morning to the delight of that lovely white and gold. Following our Matron into the dairy, she will feel somewhat like Goldsmith must have felt when he mused on his deserted village. Stone shelves, bare now, and flagged floor will surely bring visions of Buttercup’s days of clotted cream and yellow butter. But it is not a dairy now. They call it a “cool room.” We must hasten to relate how the matron pointed out all the wonderful alterations and additions to the kitchen and laundry, store room and pantry. The noble old range, a real glutton for fuel. The home at Ashfield was purchased as a receiving centre, a temporary residence for boys on arrival or as a convalescent home for any that became sick or unemployed.
Mention was made of the different approach which each state government intended taking to the proposal of bringing out Barnardo farm Lad’s. South Australia proposed to rear the boys in Great Britain and transport them to the state when they are old enough to go on farms. Western Australia tackles the problem in yet another fashion. Money is being collected here to build Barnardo cottages as an adjunct to the Fairbridge Home Scheme. The Premier of Western Australia, Sir John Scadden, offered Kingsley Fairbridge land on which to erect his Farm School and Cottages. In a fertile region south of Perth called Pinjarra, after an initial period of great hardship, eventually struggled on after the death of its founder, to become a very happy and successful system for young British migrants. On the voyage bringing out the first Barnardo party, the experienced Immigration Director, Mr Percy Roberts of Barnardo’s London, called at the Pinjarra settlement and pronounced the Fairbridge scheme to be fifty years ahead of its time.
It should be noted and would be interesting to know how many Barnardo’s young children, boys and girls were dropped off at Fairbridge Farm School Pinjarra W.A. between 1921 and 1928, before the Mowbray Park Farm training school came into play in 1929. Mr P.T. Kirkpatrick Barnardo’s N.S.W. General Manager in 1946 Stated that forty percent of the children in the Fairbridge Farm Scheme in Western Australia were formerly from Barnardo Homes in England. The Farm Manager at Mowbray Park Farm School in the 1930s, a Mr Heath, had formerly worked in the same capacity at the Fairbridge Farm School; children embarking for Western Australia, that is all Fairbridge children were housed in the Girls Village home at Barkingside before leaving, it can be seen that this close link between these two organisations would have made the NSW Committee almost an Australia-wide one, the children were then administered by the Fairbridge organisation. It was
Bound for Fairbridge Farm Scool
It was reported in the West Australia Newspaper a whole party of Barnardo Children arrived in Albany aboard the SS Euripides on the 12th of February 1924, In fact there were one hundred and fifty one Barnardo boys and girls on the Euripides one hundred were dropped in W.A the other fifty came to N.S.W. The party was made up of 48 boys and 51 Girls who were transported from the deep water jetty to the railway station. A reception was organised at the Town Hall for 2pm, where they were addressed by Mr G.F Pitchford of Perth who afterwards kindly arranged for their conveyance in motor char-a-banc’s to Middleton Beach where an enjoyable afternoon was spent. From 5pm to 7pm the Albany Women’s Immigration Committee under Mrs Day provided the whole party with a light tea at the Town Hall. The special train which has been provided for the conveyance of the new arrivals left the Southern Port at 9.30pm on Sunday night, at Yorning Railway Station a light breakfast was provided and the train reached Perth at 2pm Staff from the Fairbridge Farm School were on the Central Railway Station to welcome their contingent of Barnardo’s children, who were being escorted by Mr Nash and three matrons from Dr Barnardo’s UK. They were marched to the Y.M.C.A. headquarters and after a few minutes spent cleaning themselves up, a bright company of girls and boys were marshalled in the gym where a scrumptious lunch was served, brief speeches of welcome followed after which the children embarked on motor char-a-banc’s and driven to the principal points of interest in the city before proceeding to the Fairbridge Farm School Pinjarra in the same vehicles.
1924 party leaving the S.S.Euripides at Albany W.A.bound for the Fairbridge
The purchase of the new Ashfield home coincided with the arrival of the first party of girls in 1923 who were allowed to come to Australia on the condition they worked as domestic staff for at least two years. So out the children came to seek fame and fortune in a land they knew little about.
Sir Arthur Rickard saw the scheme as a means of providing solid future Australians citizens who would be contented to live outside the overpopulated cities. To the Dr Banardos Organisation in London the sudden establishment of an Australian alternative to the beleaguered Canadian migration arrangements, meant that it now had a reprieve that the sound economic sense of emigrating British children from overpopulated industrial cities to underpopulated colonial country towns made good sense.
In the daily Telegraph [Sydney] of March 18th 1922 page 11, it is made quite clear that government employees and some farmers viewed charity immigrants as being entitled to different treatment from those who had come from good homes. In the early days of the arrival of Barnardo parties from England, it was deemed good practice wherever possible to have sufficient applicants vetted and ready when the ship arrived with the lads. There-by reducing the overheads which would have resulted from having to feed and house large numbers of growing adolescents for unknown periods of time.
The question of finance is one that gives the Executive much anxiety. There is a debt of 1,800 pounds on the hostel at Ashfield and the overdraft on the current account is 470 pounds, so that the need of more money to carry on is very pressing. Our President gave 100 pounds recently, which helped us materially, and Sir William Vicars gave 50 pounds, Mr A.G Thomas kindly lent us 50 pounds without interest for twelve months, for repairs at Barnardo House Ashfield, and other kind friends have also assisted. The sum of 2,000 pounds per annum is needed to carry on the upkeep of the Alt St Ashfield Hostel. The largest items of expenditure are the upkeep of the Hostel and the inspections of the boys and girls.
The ninth party of fifty boys arrived here on the S.S.Ballarat under the care of Mr Greg. They were all placed out within a week in homes which had been specially selected. There is no difficulty in placing the boys and girls as there is always a large number of applicants waiting. Our real difficulty is that we are compelled to disappoint so many of our clients not having the boys and girls to fill the vacancies as they occur.
In 1927 the President of Dr Banardo’s Homes in the U.K., the Duke of York, visited New South Wales
Two of the earliest appointees to the office staff were Miss Mary Hutchison in 1921 and Miss Lois Butcher in 1923. Miss Hutchison was the office Secretary and preformed every task imaginable from fundraising to confidante to the boys with problems, she retired in 1971 after 52 years service. Miss Butcher also commenced doing some temporary typing, she came for three weeks and stayed for forty four years, her principal duty was as organiser of fund raising including the introduction of school visits.
It should be mentioned here that Barnardo’s Old Boys and Girls owe a great deal to these charitable souls who dedicated their whole life looking after us Barnardo children, be they serving in the office or in the homes themselves. People like Miss Moore, Miss Lichfield, Miss Wedlock, Tom and Mrs Price, Ralph and Dorothy Green, Stanley Allen, Miss Sara Elson, Roley and Kitty Paxton, Andrew Crawford, Miss Miles, Miss Gilham. Then the long serving committee Sir Arthur Rickard, Mr A W Green, Mr R Thornber, Mr R Dallen and many more who came later like Bill Hoyles, Sir John Fuller, Mrs Margaret Dowling, Miss Lyndall Egg, Mrs Voit and Mrs Shirley Ronge one of us Barnardo Kids who worked in reception at Wilmont Street Head Office, a hard working member of the Old Boys & Girls Reunion Club and a Member of the Board . I should also mention the two old boys who stayed and worked on as employees Bill Webber as the Poultry Manager and Richard Stansfield the Cobbler and Hairdresser. I am sure there are many more great staff who should have been added to this list, so don’t feel bad if I missed you.
Another tower of strength to the organisation and a member of the committee was a retired grazier named Harry Cuzens: he was very generous with his time and frequently preforming tasks when other staff were busy with other work. He travelled extensively throughout the country regions of New South Wales inspecting the placement to which boys had been sent, and faithfully photographing each boy with their prize possession, be it a rifle, greyhound dog, horse or his latest hunting trophy. In 1928 Harry Cuzen’s last official duty prior to his untimely death from pneumonia, was to sign the contract to purchase a country property five miles outside Picton, which would be the start of a Dr Banardo’s Training Farm School for Boys. This had long been the desire of the President, and meant that Dr Barnardo's in Australia would be able to overcome a number of problems which the
original scheme had contained. Just as Sir Arthur had told the Dominions Commission fifteen years before, children could be brought out at a younger age, they could become adjusted to the different climate, learn some farming before actually going out to their employer, thereby saving his time and money and also helping the boy feel more assured in his new environment
Hon Inspectors Car Mr Harry Cuzens
The “Mowbray Park” property, some 100 kilometres from Sydney. On taking over the property from B.H.P. as a donation in 1928 the existing houses were given names for easy identification. The Gate House is named Ivy Lodge, The main house Cuzens House named after Harry Cuzens the first Treasurer , the chauffeur’s house was named Wedlock cottage after Miss Wedlock, The overseers Cottage Chapel Cottage named due to its close proximity to the chapel. For more information on Mowbray Park Farm Training School go to Mowbray Park History.
One of the victims of the cost cutting during the depression was the Girls Hostel at Alt St Ashfield. However, in 1938 another large house was purchased in the Sydney suburb of Burwood, which is close to the Domestic Sciences School. Thereby enabling the young girls to take courses at the school and reside under Barnardo’s care nearby. Miss Nalka Dobbie, who had been the cook at the Ashfield Hostel since 1925, replaced the retiring Matron Fussell. Miss Dobbie was another of those Barnardo Phenomenon, the long term employee who only intended stay for a short period. When the new premises at Burwood were obtained Miss Dobbie assumed charge and stayed for over twenty years.
Extracts from the 1938 ANNUAL report.
It is probably true to say the Barnardo migration scheme did not quite meet the expectations of the Australian President and his Committee, whilst the organisation had sent huge parties of both boys and girls to Canada, the largest party of Barnardo children that came to Australia was 150 in 1924. The reason for this can be found in the fact Barnardo’s was tied to the British Government for funds to pay for the children’s passage out to Australia. After the initial generosity, the government found it had to spread its budget over several migration schemes duplicating Barnardo’s work, they were the Dreadnought scheme, the Big Brother Movement, . Fairbridge Farm Scheme which had opened a farm at Molong in New South Wales, and various church schemes. With the exception of the year 1922, one hundred & ninety two, the annual number of arrivals did not exceed 100. Unfortunately the Barnardo Committee didn’t have a Crystal Ball to see all the setbacks they would have to endure like the disagreement with Barnardo,s U.K in 1922 when all our assets were frozen then the depression in 1929, then in 1936 the committee thought they were on the move and went on a building spree, building two new Cottages, Poultry Farm, and Dairy Buildings, then World War Two broke out putting the flow of children off for another ten years from 1939 to 1947.
In the later years of the 1930s one particular change began to appear in the Barnardo Scheme which reflected a similar movement among the general population, the gradual drift away from the original two callings of young Barnardo people from farming and domestic service work. Several girls began to enrol in nursing courses, this process accelerated as the war approached and many of the girls were involved in much useful work in those difficult times from 1939 to 1945
Extracts from the 1939 Annual Report:- There are at the moment 1,400 members of the Australian community who have been brought out , to share in the wonderful life of this country, under the auspices of the Association. Of this number, 1.079 are now over twenty-one years of age and are, strictly speaking, out of the care of the Homes, but the great majority of these are in regular contact with the organization.
There are 187 boys and girls still in care and 133 are in training at the Branch Homes. The Association maintains a Training Farm School at Mowbray Park near Picton, a Girls Training Home and Hostel at 73 Grantham Street Burwood and while it has no Hostel for youths, arrangements have been made for their accommodation when necessary, in comfortable quarters at Summer Hill. The Headquarters and Aftercare Department of the association in New South Wales are at the Assembly Hall Building, 1 Jamison St, Sydney.
A new and up to date cottage to accommodate some fifteen boys was opened in July by the Chairman of our Committee, who is also President of the Millions Club, through the munificence of whose members this addition was made possible. The occupants of this cottage , who are known as the Millionaires and are justly proud of their home, which has been made even more attractive by the provision of a splendid radio, the gift of the staff of the Mutual Life and Citizens Assurance Company of Sydney.
At the Royal Easter Show the Barnardo Exhibit proved of greatest interest and attracted an average of twelve thousand visitors a day. The broadcasting station has also shown an active sympathy in the work of the homes, and the Barnardo Girls Choir has given several broadcasts of high standards. During the year a “Cinesound” review of the activities at our Farm School has been projected at six of the city cinemas and all the main suburban theatres. Seventy-two propaganda slides appeared from time to time at the cinemas. During the year a most successful dance was held at Elizabeth Bay House, organised by a member of the Executive Committee. This and an Empire Fete at Banardo House Burwood, were the largest of a number of functions organised during this year under review.
The opening of Mowbray Park Farm Training School 1929
For more information on Mowbray Park Farm Training School go to Mowbray Park History Album
Mr A W Green with new arrivals at Ashfield