Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children

During the mid-1800s, a combination of the economic depression, the gold rush, and a boom in population led to rising poverty and worsening social conditions in Sydney. As a result, many children were left to fend for themselves on Sydney’s Streets. Middle-class citizens in response began to establish voluntary philanthropic organisations, such as the Society for the Relief of Destitute Children founded in 1852, to care children who had been orphaned, abandoned, or whose parents were unable to care for them. 

The Society operated as a charitable fundraising organisation, whose funds were subsidised by government grants. By June 1852, sufficient funds had been raised to purchase Ormond House in Paddington, for a Children’s Asylum. Within its first year, 89 children were admitted, rising to approximately 150 by 1856. The growing demand highlighted the need for a purpose-built facility. A government grant of 60 acres near High Cross Park, Randwick, with an additional bequest of £11 000 from the Society's first medical officer, meant that a building to accommodate 400 children could be constructed, opening on the 28th March 1858. The Asylum's population continued to grow and in 1863 a new wing was constructed, increasing the capacity to 800. 

The Asylum typically accepted children between the ages of 3 and 10, who remained the responsibility of the institution until they were 19 years old, unless they were apprenticed out, or when a female married earlier. The board could also relinquish the care of a child to its parents if they could demonstrate their capacity to care for the child. On admission, the children had their hair cut short, were bathed, and were provided with fresh uniforms and medical care. During their time at the institution, they received a basic education and were taught trade skills such as gardening and farming on the Institutions vast land. Many children from the age of 12 were apprenticed out, either to the institution itself or external businesses or trades. 

During the early 1880s, an Act was passed which moved childcare towards a ‘Boarding Out’ System, an early form of fostering. This required children under the age of 12 to be removed from Asylums and into private housing or smaller institutions, resulting in a drop in the number of residents at Randwick. In 1888, government funding for the institution ceased, and state children were no longer sent to the facility. The Asylum remained open as a private charitable organisation, with only a few children remaining. In 1915, the federal government took over the site and converted it to a military hospital. It operated as a military hospital until 1953, when it was converted to the Prince of Wales hospital. 

Resources

• Coulter, J. (1916) An historical review of the Society for the Relief of Destitute Children: from the year 1852 up to the time of requisitioning of the Society's buildings and lands, in 1915, by the federal authorities for military hospital purposes, Randwick, N.S.W.: The Society. 
  View online; https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2464036 
• Curby, P. (2009) Randwick. Randwick, N.S.W. Australia: Randwick City Council
• Doyle, F. and Storey, J. (1991) Destitute Children’s asylum, Randwick, 1852-1916. Edited by E. Waugh. Randwick, N.S.W: Randwick & District Historical Society. 
• Flynn, M. (2023) Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children, New South Wales 1852-1915.  Biographical Database of Australia (BDA).
   Available at: https://www.bda-online.org.au/files/SC2_RandwickAsylum.pdf 
• Museums of History NSW (n.d.) Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children.    Available at: https://mhnsw.au/guides/randwick-asylum-destitute-children/  
• Museums of History NSW (n.d.) Child care and protection guide.       Available at: https://mhnsw.au/guides/child-care-and-protection-guide/ 
• Museums of History NSW (n.d.) Child care and protection index 1817-1942,    Available at: https://mhnsw.au/indexes/child-care-and-protection/child-care-and-protection-index/    (to find admission records) 
• Ramsland, J. (1984) An anatomy of a nineteenth century child saving institution: the Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, v.70, part.3, Dec 1984.
• Ramsland, J. (1986) Children of the back lanes: Destitute and neglected children in colonial New South Wales. Kensington, NSW, Australia: New South Wales University Press.  
• Ramsland, J. (2011) Children’s institutions in Nineteenth-century Sydney, The Dictionary of Sydney.                Available at: https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/childrens_institutions_in_nineteenth_century_sydney#ref-uuid=0…