How to access our records
The Benevolent Society's archival records are kept in a number of locations.
1. Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW
The bulk of our records (1813-1996) are stored at the Mitchell Library (State Library of NSW).
To find out how to access these records and associated costs involved, you can read this fact sheet or contact our Honorary Archivist Keith Williamson.
2. The Sydney Benevolent Asylum
This website comprises a public database of The Benevolent Society's asylum clients from 1857 to 1900.
Visit the Sydney Benevolent Asylum website
This website also includes a list of other records of interest, which can be accessed here.
The two people behind the database are Martyn Killion and Heather Garnsey, who have been involved in family history for over 30 years. Martyn is also a Fellow of the Society of Australian Genealogists and Heather Garnsey is Executive Officer with the Society of Australian Genealogists.
The Benevolent Society ran the asylum from 1818 to care for the poor, abandoned, destitute and sick. During a time where many people had been separated from their families through transportation or emigration, the asylum provided a place of refuge, it did not house the insane.
The Asylum was located on George Street near present-day Broadway. It backed on to the Old Sydney Burial Ground (Devonshire Street Cemetery) and was demolished to make way for the current Central Railway Station in 1901.