Some records for the Margaret Watt Home are held at the Whanganui Regional Museum in Whanganui. Based on information from the Presbyterian Research Centre, the Whanganui Regional Museum does not appear to hold individual children's records. Contact details can be found here: https://wrm.org.nz/contact/
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Gender and age: Mixed
Capacity:
Controlling organisation: Margaret Watt Orphan's Home Trust Board (Presbyterian).
Third-party provider to State, faith-based
Operational period: Opened 5/12/1931, Registered 3/3/1932. Unclear closure date - appears to have closed some time around 2003.
From Presbyterian Research Centre: The Margaret Watt Home Trust was established in 1912, primarily by William Watt, in memory of his daughter Margaret who was drowned in the sinking of SS Avalanche in Portsmouth, Great Britain, in 1905.
The Home itself was built in 1935. Various titles have been used for the Home including title above, Margaret Watt Children's Home and Margaret Watt Home.
From Whanganui District Council on what happened to the land/building following the closure of the Home: By June 2009, the property had been transformed into two new subdivisions by Wanganui developer, Lance Attrill – who, in turn, had also transformed the former orphanage building into his home.
Part of the former farm had become the Belmont Estate, with fourteen one-hectare residential sections.
The remainder comprised nineteen industrial Lots named the Westbourne industrial estate, while a former $12 million timber-processing mill on the site had been given a face-lift and a considerable amount of scrap and machinery associated with it had been disposed of.
Margaret Watt Children's Trust Inc still operates "to assist New Zealanders aged 6-20 years in their training for life".
Some records about the orphanage are at the Wanganui Museum:
MS 92/20/1/11 Margaret Watt Home -Trust Board Minutes 18 Nov 1944 - 24 Jan 1957
MS 92/20/1/2 Margaret Watt Home - Trust Board Minutes 25 Jul 1962 - 14 Jan 1963 and 14 May 1969 - 14 Feb 1977
MS 92/20/2 Margaret Watt Home - Farm Committee minutes 8 Jul 1949 - 26 Apr 1954
MS 92/20/3 Margaret Watt Home - House Committee Minutes, including Matron and Superintendant's reports 18 Jul 1949 - 18 Mar 1954
MS 92/20/4 Margaret Watt Home - Reports, Superintendant and Matron 18 Dec 1951 - 18 Apr 1957
MS 92/20/5/1 Margaret Watt Home - Correspondence 22 Dec 1934 - 4 Feb 1957
MS 92/20/5/2 Margaret Watt Home - Correspondence 21 Feb 1972 - 20 Sep 1977
MS 92/20/6/1 Margaret Watt Home - Annual reports/balance sheets 31 Jan 1933 - 31 May 1956
MS 92/20/6/2 Margaret Watt Home - Annual reports/balance sheets 14 Jul 1962 - 15 Dec 1976
MS 92/20/7 Margaret Watt Home - Timber notebook 1952 - 1956
MS 92/20/8 Margaret Watt Home - Journals, Vol 1 - 9 1974 - 1982
'Directory of residential facilities for disturbed children in New Zealand', Department of Social Welfare, 1979. https://natlib.govt.nz/records/40422924
31 September 2020 Affidavit of Anita Ngaire Easton for Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children to the Abuse in Care Inquiry
Information provided by the Presbyterian Research Centre/Archives to the Crown Response Unit (via Presbyterian Support Central) on 10 September 2024
Margaret Watt Children’s Home Heritage Sheet from Whanganui District Council Build Heritage Inventory: https://data.whanganui.govt.nz/wdc/HeritageSheets/337.pdf
Whanganui Community Foundation page on Other Funders (details on Margaret Watt Children's Trust Inc): https://www.whanganuicommunityfoundation.org.nz/page/other-funders-in-the-whanganuirangitikeiwaimarino-regions/5/39/
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