Kennington Median PriceThe House price is 1% higher than last year.
Surrounding suburbsKennington Median RentThe House rent is 4% higher than last year.
| | Map | Street view | Nearby property price | | Planning History: | | | Registered as Victorian heritage | What is significant?
The first four Sisters of the Good Shepherd Order arrived in Melbourne in 1863 at the invitation of Bishop James Goold and set up their Abbotsford Convent (VHR H0951). The order originated in Angers, France where they had provided care and protection for women and girls. In 1904 some of the Sisters from the Abbotsford Convent arrived in Bendigo at the request of Bishop Stephen Reville to set up St Aidan's Orphanage. A house and 40 acres of land had been purchased for the orphanage, funded by the estate of Rev. Father Dr Henry Backhaus. The Sisters also established a refuge for women. Bishop Reville stipulated that both boys and girls be admitted to the orphanage to avoid splitting up families and St Aidan's Orphanage became the only Good Shepherd convent in Australia to care for boys as well as girls.
A large French Medieval style building, designed by prominent firm Reed, Smart and Tappin of Melbourne and supervised by Keogh and Austen of Bendigo, was officially opened on 19 July 1905 before a crowd of some 2000 people. The imposing form of the building was alleviated by a simplicity of detail, asymmetrical massing and a picturesque tower with a bellcast roof. Between 1909 and 1912 the building was completed including a two-storey block for boys comprising dormitories and a dining room known as 'The Lodge' (now demolished). A separate laundry was built at the same time as the 1905 building but it is believed that the current laundry building dates from the late 1920s with an extension in the 1950s. In 1924 the cast iron entrance gates and fence were built.
The orphanage continued to grow and in 1930-31 a two storey building designed by EJ and KB Keogh was constructed to the east of the 1905 building. With its gables and Gothic arches, it complemented the 1905 building. The Sisters received a government grant of ??7000 from the Unemployment Relief Fund towards the cost of the building and local unemployed men worked on the site. This was a major work in Bendigo during the Great Depression era. Opened by the Premier EJ Hogan on 14 June 1931, the building was widely admired for its modern conveniences including a separate sick ward and heating system.
Further accommodation was provided with the construction of a building in 1956 (not included in current ownership). By the 1970s the philosophy of the Good Shepherd Order had evolved from protecting people within the convent to helping people outside the walls of the convent and gradually the order?s large convents and institutions around Australia closed. During the 1970s residents and Sisters who were living at St Aidan?s were moved to houses outside the convent. The complex was sold to Girton College in 1984.
The imposing buildings were once surrounded by a large estate with a farm, orchard and park-like garden. The land has been reduced by subdivision, but the front garden survives |
| | |
