From Hocken Library reference guide: "The records are held by the Sisters of Mercy, but they are incomplete. Few records from the early years have survived, but there are good records from the 1960s onwards."
Gender and age: Initially boys only, Mixed 1955-19821963: 1-161964: 1-15c. 1969: 5-161974, 76, 77, 78,79: boys 1-14 year, girls until completion of secondary education1979: boys 2-13 year, girls until completion of secondary education
Capacity: 1963: 55 (20 children from 1 to 5)1964: 62c. 1965: 451974, 76: 481977, 78, 79: 461979, 82: 33
Controlling Organisations: Nga Whaea Atawhai o Aotearoa Sisters of Mercy New Zealand (Catholic) provided staff and administration. The Catholic Diocese of Dunedin managed the institution.
Third-party provider to State, faith-based
Registered 7/3/1929Note on operational period: The Hocken Library resource has the opening date of this Home as 1920. Information provided by the Catholic Church has the opening date as 1921.
From the Hocken reference guide: "St Joseph’s Boys’ Home in Doon Street, Waverley was opened by the Sisters of Mercy in 1920 in the former home of politician Scobie Mackenzie. In 1937, with demand for its services growing, a new building was erected. The boys attended St Joseph’s School, with some going on to further education at Christian Brothers High School. When the Christian Brothers commenced St Edmund’s School in South Dunedin in 1949, the St Joseph’s Home boys started to attend primary school there. In 1955 St Vincent’s closed and the girls there moved to St Joseph’s. It continued as a mixed home until its closure in 1982. From 1983 until 1988 the buildings were used to provide emergency accommodation for women and children."
Glen, Sister Mary Stephanie (1997). Divide and share: the story of Mercy in the south 1897- 1997. Dunedin: Sisters of Mercy.
'Directory of residential facilities for disturbed children in New Zealand', Department of Social Welfare, 1979.
31 September 2020 Affidavit of Anita Ngaire Easton for Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children to the Abuse in Care Inquiry
Information provided by Te Rōpū Tautoko (Catholic Church) to the Crown Response Unit on 24 May 2024
Orphanages and Children's Homes in Otago and Southland Reference Guide (PDF, 513KB) - Hocken Collections University of Otago Library
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