Building the Hall and Classroom

The hall and classrooms built in 1900 are the only remaining buildings from the early days..

After the Hall was completed the “Saturday Night Dance” became a popular event at Kincumber not just for entertainment but also for the continuing need to raise funds for the Home. By 1900, 236 boys were received in the Home.

The difficulty of getting bricks and timber on the ground from Sydney was great; everything at that time had to come by boat.  The bricks arrived on the Maggie Riley but they were unable to unload at the Orphanage wharf so they stacked the bricks in nearby Humphrey’s paddock.  All the bricks were then transported by the boys; they carried the 30,000 bricks from the paddock.  Bill McLeod was 8 at the time and remembered ” carrying the bricks one by one”.