Bidura (Bidura House Group) – 357 Glebe Point Road – Glebe – NSW

Bidura (Bidura House Group) – 357 Glebe Point Road – Glebe – NSW

Edmund Blacket Victorian Regency villa · Built c.1860–62 · State children’s depot / girls’ shelter 1920–1977 · Standing — private / contested redevelopment context · NSW SHR #01994

Edmund Blacket built himself a Glebe Point Road villa while finishing the University of Sydney. Later owners added a ballroom; the State Children’s Relief Board turned the house into the colony’s central receiving home for wards of the state. For nearly sixty years girls and very young boys — including many Aboriginal children of the Stolen Generations and children later called Forgotten Australians — entered “care” through Bidura.

The villa and ballroom survive; the Avon Street shelter was demolished for a childrens court. Handle this history with care.

At a glance

• Address: 357 Glebe Point Road, Glebe NSW 2037 (Bidura House Group — house, annex, ballroom, remnant front garden)
• Traditional Custodians: Cadigal / Wangal (DoS; SHR; Barani)
• Built: c.1860 (SHR) / around 1862 (DoS) — Edmund Thomas Blacket for his family after 1857 purchase
• Style: SHR — good example of Victorian Regency; ballroom Victorian Italianate (SHR assessment)
• Private owners after Blacket: Rosina & Robert Fitz Stubbs (named Bidura; Sands also Madwia/Bedura); Frederick Perks; later Burfitt / Walker (SHR / DoS)
• Government: NSW purchase 1920 — Depot for State Children / receiving home; Metropolitan Girls Shelter phase; Child Welfare Department
• Pair boys’ depot: Royleston, also Glebe Point Road, from 1922 (DoS)
• Shelter building: Metropolitan Girls’ Shelter on Avon Street rear — demolished 1978; Bidura Children’s Court (neo-brutalist) 1980–83 (DoS / SHR)
• Residential closure: Bidura house residential function ends 1976/77 (SHR / DoS); restored as offices
• Heritage: NSW SHR #01994 (gazetted 28 Aug 2017, DB 5063601)
• Fate: House group standing; site sold by State 2014 for redevelopment (DoS); court vacated later — verify current DA / ownership at publish

Site & setting

Glebe Point Road rise on former St Phillip’s Glebe / Boissier Estate allotments. Blacket rented nearby Hawthorn first; bush still dense enough that he needed escorts home along the Ferry Road track (SHR quoting GBA CMP). Front oval lawn / carriage loop, picket and sandstone edge, mature peppercorn and black bean (SHR landscape). Rear once held extensive service yards, stables, Metropolitan Girls’ Shelter, then remand/court complex.

Aboriginal Country and the houses role in forced child removals are inseparable from significance (SHR social criteria; Barani; DoS).

Timeline

• 1857 – Edmund Blacket purchases allotment; building by c.1860/around 1862 (SHR / DoS).
• 1859+ – Blacket Glebe alderman (SHR).
• 1869 – Sarah Blacket dies; 1870 house sold; family to Balmain (DoS / ADB).
• 1870s – Fitz Stubbs name Bidura; ballroom added by 1876 (SHR modifications).
• By 1878 – Perks ownership; 1904 northern corner subdivided (SHR).
• 1920 – State Children’s Relief Board buys Bidura as depot replacing Ormond House / Juniper Hall Paddington receiving function (DoS).
• 1922 – Royleston boys’ depot purchased (DoS).
• 1923+ – Child Welfare Department; Bidura designated Metropolitan Girls’ Shelter (DoS).
• 1925–30s Girls’ Shelter building on Avon Street; functions gradually separated (SHR / Find & Connect).
• 1940s+ – ACT (and some NT) child transfers via Bidura noted (DoS).
• 197374 – Women’s Liberation protests / roof occupation (Barani; DoS media).
• 1977 – Residential facility closes; Shelter demolished 1978 (DoS / Find & Connect).
• 1980–83 – Metropolitan Remand Centre / Bidura Children’s Court built; house restored for administration (SHR).
• 28 Aug 2017 – SHR listing Bidura House Group (house/garden significance; court building contested in heritage debates — press).
• 2014+ – Private sale / apartment DA litigation (DoS / SHR history notes) — verify status.
• Today – Villa, annex, ballroom and front garden remain the SHR group; treat institutional memory with respect.

Architecture & interiors

Three-storey (including lower ground) rendered brick Regency composition: symmetrical fronts, hipped slate roof, timber shutters, two-storey verandahs historically (Hilda Blacket 1870 drawing — SHR). Interior: central halls, marble/slate floors, ornate cornices, marble mantelpieces — heavily adapted for dormitories then offices (SHR room-by-room). Ballroom: separate Italianate pavilion with vestibule, covered way, decorated timber ceiling (SHR).

Prefer CMP / SHR description over inventing lost Blacket finishes.

People & anecdotes

Edmund Thomas Blacket (1817–1883) — Colonial Architect turned University architect; Glebe resident–alderman (ADB). Sarah Blacket — died 1869. Fitz Stubbs / Frederick Perks — naming and ballroom chapters. State Children’s Relief Board / Child Welfare Department — institutional operators. Bessie Guthrie & Women’s Liberation — 1970s campaign against abuses (DoS / ADB Guthrie). Stolen Generations & Forgotten Australians — Bidura as entry point into state “care” (SHR; DoS Parry; Bringing Them Home; Forgotten Australians reports). Oral histories (NLA / NMA Inside) document arrival rituals — cite via DoS rather than sensationalising.

Compare welfare-adapted mansions: Juniper Hall / Ormond House (earlier depot); Yasmar (children’s court / remand — Haberfield).

Image gallery guidance

1. Blacket family “Our House” / Hilda 1870 eastern garden front (SLNSW / Glebe Society exhibition). 2. 1973 Bernard Smith Collection street view (Barani). 3. Metropolitan Girls Shelter Avon Street 1931 (*Truth* — DoS media).

4. Front carriage loop / Glebe Point Road elevation today. 5. Ballroom exterior (if photographable from public realm). 6. Avoid exploitative imagery of children; prefer building fabric and documented protest history.

What stands today

Bidura House, annex, ballroom and remnant front garden stand and are State Heritage listed. The site’s justice/welfare rear fabric has been partly demolished and redeveloped under later DAs — check City of Sydney / LEC status before stating what occupies the rear. Not a casual tourist interior; social significance obliges respectful framing. Pair with Royleston and Find & Connect resources for care-leavers.

Sources & further reading

• NSW SHR — Bidura House Group (#01994, DB 5063601): https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5063601
• Dictionary of Sydney — Naomi Parry, Bidura” (2015): https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/bidura
• Sydney Barani — Bidura: https://www.sydneybarani.com.au/sites/bidura/
• Find & Connect — Bidura; Metropolitan Girls’ Shelter, Glebe
• ADB — Blacket, Edmund Thomas; Guthrie, Bessie Jean Thompson
• Glebe Society — Heritage Buildings: Bidura
• Trove — search: Bidura Glebe; “Depot for State Children” Glebe; Metropolitan Girls’ Shelter Glebe; Bidura Women’s Liberation
• NMA — Inside: Life in Children’s Homes (linked from DoS)

Related on this blog

• Toxteth Park, Glebe — Glebe Point estate context
• Yaralla, Concord — Blacket mansion compare (different typology/use)
• Juniper Hall / Ormond House — earlier children’s court depot (Paddington)
• Yasmar, Haberfield — children’s court / remand villa (this batch)

Keep existing photos; add SLNSW/Trove images with captions and credits from Image gallery guidance.

 

Venetia... Vanetta Now Bellevue - 55 Leichardt Street - Glebe - New South Wales

Bellevue, Glebe Point 1899 (G'mpa Warden in photo), [with the house Venetia in the background] ... c.1899 ... W. F. Hall Photo ...

Vanetta is perhaps either a pet name for the house employed by the Warden family, or a mistransliteration or corruption of Venetia [the two storey house, right, in this photograph]. The Warden family rented Bellevue 1898-1903 - Michael Foster (Sept 2005) ...

Previosly titled: "Vanetta" Glebe Point 1899 (G'mpa Warden in photo)

The residence is now known as "Bellevue" and is situated at 55 Leichhardt Street Glebe and is Classified by the National Trust of Australia (NSW).

Venetia was built about 1877 in Kennedy Street (later Leichhardt Street), Glebe for William Jarrett and demolished about 1915. Bellevue, probably a rental property, was built by local architect and builder Ambrose Thornley Junior for Jarrett. It first appears in the Glebe Rate books in 1896, unnamed, and in the Sands Directory in 1897, named Bellevue. It was acquired derelict by Leichhardt Council and was often incorrectly referred to as Venetia, long demolished, in the press and in minutes of the Heritage Council. -- Information supplied by Michael Foster (Sept 2005) ... State Library of New South Wales

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Hereford House - Glebe

 

 Hereford House - Glebe 

Toxteth Park - Glebe - New South Wales

 

Toxteth Park - Glebe - NSW

Toxteth Park  was built in 1829 for Mr George Allen. Owned by 2 Generations Of the Allen Family, & in 1901 was purchased by the Catholic Church & it became a Convent School . 
The Building Is Now Used By The Sisters Of Good Samaritan as The Good Samaritan Congregational Centre

George Allen was born 1800 in London. His Father died at 6 years & his mother remarried 
In 1812 he was  convicted of Not Affixing Revenue Stamps to the medicine bottles and was transported to Australia. 
The Family followed in 1816.
George was articled out as a Solicitor & was a practising Solicitor in 1822. He was the first Solicitor to receive legal training in Australia.
In 1829 He Commissioned John Verge to Build Toxteth House on 39 Hectares (96 Acres). Over the years George Allen built other houses on the estate including "Tranby" 7 "Emslee"

In 1847 he built a Wesleyan Chapel. He died in 1877 and eldest son George Wigram Allen inherited the property.