During the 1790s plans to establish an orphan asylum in Sydney gathered pace as the number of neglected and destitute children increased. The first Female Orphan School, championed by Governor Philip King and Reverend Samuel Marsden, opened in 1801. Initially boys were apprenticed out rather than being institutionalised until the first Male Orphan School was established in 1818 in George St, Sydney. The Male Orphan School then moved to Cabramatta in 1823.