Blackhall

Blackhall - 26 Sackville Street

This grand thirteen- roomed Italianate mansion set amongst extensive grounds was built in 1890-91 as a private home for William Henry Roberts, prominent land boomer and parliamentarian, on what was Lot 71 in the Borough of Kew bought by Hussey Burgh Macartney in 1851. The architects were Powell and Whitaker. There were stables and a small summer house in the south-west corner. Roberts apparently went bankrupt in about 1892.

In May 1915 Blackhall was purchased for £1800 by the Salvation Army and named the ‘Catherine Booth Girls’ Home’ providing accommodation until 1976 for about 90 to 100 girls between the ages of 4 and 16. A wooden dining room was added at the rear in 1915.

During the mid 1950s attempts were made to convert the large-scale dormitories to smaller unit accommodation. In the 1960s, the Home began accepting boys aged 2 to 8 years, to keep siblings together. By 1969, its capacity had reduced to 48 with an increasing emphasis on small group care for girls in the 4 to 16 year old age group.

When the Salvation Army Girls’ Home was in operation at Blackhall, the laundry was down the back in the red brick building on the southern border of the property. The older girls did the laundry. There was a coal fire and mangle and a drying frame. The sliding poles from the frame were later used for the Blackhall climbing frame. A big basket was used to carry the laundry to and from the clothes lines and maybe back into the main home. What a mountain of washing! Peter Austin (teacher at Preshil 1975-2008) used the old basket later for dress ups during his time teaching in the Garden School.

That building (now part of the Frances Derham Art Space), was the original school for the orphan girls and also for orphan boys who came up to ‘Blackhall’ from Hawthorn. In 2018 the basket held outdoor toys at the sandpit in the Nursery School at Arlington.

In 1972 children were transferred to Blackhall when the Salvation Army closed the William Booth Girls’ Home in East Camberwell. During the 1970s the Salvation Army was becoming increasingly aware that children living in Kew, coming originally from Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs, were experiencing difficulty coping with social involvement in the Kew community. Planning began to relocate to Jacana in the north western suburbs. The Catherine Booth Girls’ Home closed in 1976.

‘Preshil, the Margaret Lyttle Memorial School’ purchased Blackhall in 1978 for its Senior School. An original plaque can still be seen at the front entrance. Blackhall is listed by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).

Libby Shade and Felicity Renowden

Preshil Archivists