Box Hill House construction support

McCall Gardens Community Foundation Limited (McCall) is an established service provider based in Box Hill, Sydney, which has for several decades offered services to persons with a disability. With the evolving needs of the Foundation, McCall are redeveloping their Box Hill estate that includes Nelson Hall (c.1820), Box Hill House (c.1860s) and a purpose-built residential facility Ross House (1975, extended 1983). Listed on the State Heritage Register, any works that could affect the estates heritage value must obtain approval from the Heritage Council under section 60 of the Heritage Act.

 The Box Hill estate was established by ex-convict Samuel Terry and operated as a pastoral establishment, owned by the Terry family until the 1920s. Pastoral activities continued until the 1950s, when the site was gifted to the Sub-Normal Children’s Welfare Association (now McCall) by estate agent Sir William McCall.

Until the middle of the 20th century, people with a disability were kept separate from society. The Sub-normal Children’s Welfare Association’ ushered in a radical way of caring for people with a disability: by providing a home for them. The men who called Box Hill home were provided with medical treatment and were taught farming skills like milking cows and raising pigs. The model of care championed by McCall was so popular that the number of men soon outgrew the facilities, requiring the construction of Ross House and then its extension.

While the home-like environment was revolutionary in the 1940s when McCall was established, by the early 1990s large residential care facilities did not meet the new legislative standards under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The men moved to community-based houses and the property is being redeveloped to meet the evolving needs of the community.

• Built Heritage
• Historical Archaeology