Index to the Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children, 1852-1915
About the Index | Accessing the records | Historical background | Feedback
About the Index
This was the first indexing project completed by State Records' volunteers and State Records would like to acknowledge their valuable contribution in helping to make the State's archives more accessible.
Records series used to compile the index
NRS 13362, Registers of Inmates, 4 Jun 1852-14 Aug 1915
Note: Not all entries in the original register are complete, therefore there maybe some blank columns in our index.
Accessing the records
Ancestry.com have added the index and digital copies of NRS 13362 Randwick Asylum Registers of Inmates, 4 Jun 1852-14 Aug 1915 to its website. Reading room visitors can now access this resource through State Records’ reading room kiosk computers free of charge.
Microfilm copies of the records can be viewed in our reading room.
There is a photocopy service available from this Index. You will see an 'Add to Cart' tickbox option on the search results page(s).
Historical background
The Society for the Relief of Destitute Children opened Ormond House in Oxford Street, Paddington in 1852. The children who were admitted were normally between the ages of three and ten years and not eligible for admission to the Orphan Schools. The children received a basic education and after the Asylum relocated to Randwick in 1858 to a site that included a farm, the boys also learnt farming skills. From 1883 the Asylum began boarding-out children and after 1888 the Government ceased funding the home. The premises were increasingly under-utilised until it was taken over by the Federal Government during World War I as a military hospital for wounded and disabled returned servicemen. In April 1915 the children remaining at the Asylum were sent to cottage style institutions or boarded-out.
Further information
- For more details on Randwick Asylum see Archives Investigator Agency # 503
Feedback
We would appreciate any feedback and suggestions you may have on using the Index.
