Queens Orphanage but no Royal Treatment



Ephraim and MaryAnn Doe admitted to the
Orphan School April 1 1859



By 1859, Bridget and Ephraim had two children, Ephraim the younger and Mary Ann. In fact, at the time, everyone had a Mary Ann. Ephraim snr had decided to go into farming and was having mixed success. I was first alerted to the fact that the children had been put in the orphanage by Joyce Purtscher who was indexing all the Orphan School records. She told me that there would be a letter in the Colonial Secretary's Office records and gave me the index number. With great excitement I set off into the Archives and waited anxiously while the required volume was brought down from upstairs. Carefully I turned the pages until I found it, or didn't find it as the case turned out. The heading at the top of the page gave the correct names and two pin holes were evidence that at one time a note had been attached but the page was now empty. What disappointment. I had some clues however, from the index. The children were in the orphanage on colonial funds which meant that the reason they were there was that something had happened in the colony to cause them to be left there. Neither Ephraim or Bridget's indents gave a clue that there had been a problem in the family.

When released, the children were given out to their mother's care. Did that mean that the problem was with Ephraim? Another oddity was that the childrens' names had been written just as christian names and the surnames Norton or Doe added in a slightly different hand. My next thought was that maybe there had been a tiff and the parents had separated for a time. It took me more than ten years to discover the answer.



Bridget given as name of parent



It was not a good time to be in the Orphan School. The Mercury reported that "these unhappy children are said to be living in a state of squalor, hunger, wretchedness and filth, which almost surpasses human belief ."   Following an inquiry, rations of meat and vegetables were doubled and the milk quota for children under six was quadrupled. Luckily, Ephraim jnr and MaryAnn were back with their parents before the following February when it was discovered that the allowance of bread each day had been lowered to 1/4 pound.  

For more on the Orphan School, follow this link

http://www.orphanschool.org.au/