Elliot Street Home

Dates: 1921-

This home, at 40 Elliot Street, has served a variety of purposes. It started out as a Boys’ Probation Home from 1921 to about 1928. It then became the Dunedin Girls’ Receiving Home. Like the equivalent Dunedin Boys’ Receiving Home at Lookout Point, it admitted children and screened them for further suitable placement.

In 1972 the newly-formed Department of Social Welfare took over responsibility for child welfare from the Department of Education. Elliot Street Home then provided remand facilities and short term training for girls aged 10 to 17 years. The home closed in 1989, but re-opened in 1991 as a new mixed-sex home. The site also housed an administration block and Highcliff High School.