AGY-399 | Male Orphan School

Full description

The Male Orphan School was established in Sydney by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. The Governor devised a written constitution, rules and regulations for the management of the School and a Committee was established to manage the Male Orphan School and the two other institutions for children which had already been established - the Female Orphan School and the Native Institution.(1) On 24 March 1819, Macquarie wrote to Earl Bathurst;
'There being a great Number of Male Orphans now in the Colony left entirely destitute of Support and Consequently living in a Miserable State of Poverty and Nakedness, I have Considered it indispensably Necessary to form and establish a Male Orphan Institution for the Relief, Support and Education of these unhappy distressed Children, and which I did accordingly on the 1st of January last at Sydney.' (2) On the foundation date of the School the first boy was admitted.(3) The Male Orphan School was conducted in George Street Sydney in premises that had formerly housed the girls of the Female Orphan School. The Male Orphan School was authorised to admit destitute boys aged between seven and ten. The boys received a basic education (reading , writing 'arithmetic) and industrial training . On Sunday they were to attend service at an Anglican Church. The boys became the legal responsibility of the School and remained in the care of the Master until they turned 15 when they were apprenticed out to tradesmen, or as farm labourers for 5, 6 or 7 years. The School was intended to house only 50 boys, (4) ( but at its most populous in 1834 there were 160 boys in residence (5) The Chief Executive of the School was its Master and his wife was appointed Mistress. The first Master was Thomas Bowden, followed by Mr Sweetman, (formerly Master of the Female Orphan School) for a few months until his death in early 1825. Reverend Robert Cartwright (1825-1829) was the next incumbent and Lieutenant Richard Sadleir provided stability during his 21 years as Master until the School closed in 1850. (6) The Male Orphan School vacated its George Street site when the premises became dilapidated and the locality became unsavoury. In 1823, when a building to house the boys had been completed, the School relocated at Cabramatta on the farm owned by the Female Orphan School. With the use of the boys' labour the farm became more productive.(7) Between 1826 and 1833 the School was managed and controlled by Trustees of the Clergy and School Lands. (8) The Male Orphan School closed at Liverpool on 30 April 1850 and amalgamated with the Female Orphan School to become the Protestant Orphan School in the premises at Arthur's Hill. (9) Endnotes:
(1) Ramsland, J "Children of the Backlanes", p. 12 & 223
(2) Historical Records of Australia Series 1.Volume 10.p. 94 (3) Protestant Orphan School: " Admission Books", 1817-32 , (AONSW ref :4/352)
(4) Ramsland, J. op. cit., pp. 12-17
(5) Ibid, p.37
(6) Ibid, pp. 33-35
(7) Ibid, p.17
(8) Ibid, p. 25
(9) "Concise Guide", 2nd Edition, Po-Pu, p. 49