Records are held at Archives New Zealand.
To request access to restricted records from Archives NZ, contact the controlling agencies, which are:
Some records may also be held at Presbyterian Research Centre (Archives): email archivist@prcknox.org.nz.
Gender: mixed
Controlling organisation: North Canterbury Hospital Board. State control
Operational period:Orphanage opened 1905, registered 17/7/1929.Renamed to Waltham Children's Home in 1941.Closed in 1957.
Further information: This institution, opened in 1905 by the North Canterbury Hospital Board, in what had been a private residence, in Austin Street, Waltham, replaced the Canterbury Orphanage (Lyttelton).
It accepted male and female children who had been orphaned or abandoned, or whose parents, through illness or misfortune, were simply unable to care for them.
In 1957, Waltham closed and the site became the Teresa Green Home for the elderly. Children who would formerly have received care from this institution were thenceforward sent to the Huntsbury Home.
https://www.archives.govt.nz/research-guidance/research-guides/welfare/charitable-aid-and-welfare-records-christchurch#s3-department-of-social
1972: The above home is owned by the North Canterbury Hospital Board and has been operated by them for many years. The Board has now ceased to run it as a Children's Home, and there is a proposal to lease it to the Presbyterian Social Services Association who would continue its use as a children's home.
1974: Will take handicapped children.
The organisation has a History Book titled "A Sense of Community" by Vivienne Allen which details 100 years of Presbyterian Support in the Upper South Island (hard copy only stored at Presbyterian Support Upper South Island Head Office, Te Korowai, 44 Bealey Avenue, Christchurch 8013).
Find out how to request Archives New Zealand records.
Orphanage Admissions & Discharges 1905-1939 (many gaps) CH384 9/3, 8; 9/3, 9; Waltham Home - Register of Admissions [children] 1947-1957 CH552 /23
Information provided by Archives NZ to the Crown Response to the Abuse in Care Inquiry on 14 March 2024
31 September 2020 Affidavit of Anita Ngaire Easton for Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children to the Abuse in Care Inquiry
Information provided by Presbyterian Support Upper South Island to the Crown Response Unit on 13 September 2024.
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