'Such a work as this' : a case study of the All Saints' children's home, Palmerston North : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
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Date
2015
DOI
Open Access Location
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Massey University
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Abstract
No abstract. The following is taken from the Introduction:
At 4pm on Wednesday 26th of September 1906, about twenty members of All Saints’
Church, Palmerston North, gathered in the schoolroom at the back of the church. They
met in response to an announcement by the Vicar, Rev. C. C. Harper, the previous Sunday,
that the church intended to open a home for orphan and destitute children, with a creche for
working parents.1 The home, which became known as the All Saints’ Children’s Home, was
opened on 18 October 1906. Over the fifty-eight years the Home was open it operated from
three locations and cared for over 700 children. The Home closed in August 1964, although
the Trust which ran it continued to care for children in foster families and by running smaller
family homes.
For over half of the twentieth century children’s homes, like All Saints’, were part of the
provision of child welfare. Children’s homes played an important role in caring for children
whose parents, for many reasons, could not. Most New Zealand cities and provincial centres
had one or more children’s homes, they were a familiar part of society. However, this system
of care is becoming lost to us as the children who were in the homes age and the buildings
are demolished or altered beyond recognition.2 Despite the important role children’s homes
played in the child welfare system there has been very little specific research done within a
New Zealand context. This thesis will go some way towards addressing this by using the All
Saints’ Children’s Home in Palmerston North as a case study.
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Keywords
Orphanages, New Zealand, Children's homes, New Zealand, All Saints' Church, Palmerston North, Palmerston North history, Child welfare, New Zealand, Church orphanages