Gender and age:
Capacity:
Controlling organisation: Masterton Methodist Children's Homes (Methodist Church). Third-party provider to State, faith-based
Operational period: Registered 10/7/1929.
Further info: In 1921, the first six children were admitted to the Home…
1922: 40 children were in the Home
There were usually between 20 and 30 children in the Home in the 1930s.
By 1946 forty-three children were accommodated, this number decreased to 30-40 in the 1950s and further decreased to only 19 in the 1970s
Children usually attended Masterton Primary School.
In 1960 “Homeleigh” was adopted as the name for the Home.
Children began to be placed in foster homes from 1966.
The property was subdivided in 1972 and 7 sections sold.
The staff house at 31 Kiwi Street was completed in 1975.
The Home was closed December 1978 but the property and buildings were not sold until 1987.
Masterton Children’s Home Managers, Masters and Matrons:
Methodist newspapers to 1948. An Orphanage Supplement was printed each year from about the 1920s for all Methodist children’s homes in Auckland, Masterton and Christchurch. They can be searched in digital format: http://kinderlibrary.recollect.co.nz/
Issues of Methodist newspapers which have not been digitised can be viewed at the Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives, National Library of New Zealand and some university libraries.
Sometimes reports of children’s activities were printed in local papers. See PapersPast at https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
Printed minutes of Methodist Conference. These are a serial and can be found in most university collections and there is a set held in the Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives.
Yearly reports were presented to Conference and detail general activities within the Home. Individuals are not mentioned by name, other than some staff. 1900-2023 which include reports from the Children’s Home have been digitised and are available on the Methodist Church website: https://www.methodist.org.nz/whakapapa/archives/methodist-history/
Some photographs have been digitised and are available: https://www.methodist.org.nz/whakapapa/archives/methodist-history/ \
Book: 'Methodism in Wellington 1839-1939' by Arthur L Olsson which includes a timeline and staff list of the Masterton Children’s Home.
Book: Children's Home, Herbert Street, Masterton. Erected 1921. Wellington Methodist Charitable and Education Trust. 1921
Book: 'A different kind of home The Masterton Methodist Children’s Home Homeleigh 1921-1978' by Margaret Robins and Brian Shaw. Includes recollections of children in the Home and main events extracted from Management Committee minutes. A digital copy is available: https://www.methodist.org.nz/whakapapa/archives/methodist-history/
https://www.methodist.org.nz/assets/Mahi/Methodist-Alliance/231017-History-of-Social-Services-in-the-Methodist-Church-in-NZ.pdf (see pages 24-28)
31 September 2020 Affidavit of Anita Ngaire Easton for Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children to the Abuse in Care Inquiry
Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives. Fact Sheet: Methodist Children's Homes in New Zealand (2021): https://www.methodist.org.nz/public/assets/Whakapapa/Archives/3-How-to-use-the-archives/Fact-sheets/Methodist-Childrens-Homes.pdf
Information provided by the Methodist Church Archives NZ to the Crown Response Unit on 22 May 2024
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