Opening SDN Marrickville 80 years ago

As we commemorate the anniversary of the opening of SDN Marrickville, it's worthwhile reflecting on the forces that came together to bring this centre to life in the suburb of Marrickville 80 years ago.

Partly what occurred in Marrickville mirrored the events in our short-lived centers in Katoomba and Kingsford – the Second World War.

With thousands of men overseas due to the war, many women were called into the workforce resulting an increased need for day nurseries. Also, Marrickville was a mecca of manufacturing, including the textiles industry where women were preferred workers because of their smaller hands and lower ability to demand higher wages.

Marrickville-based manufacturers lobbied the local council and SDN directly about opening a day nursery and a kindergarten in the area. One letter in our archive is from the Manager at John Vicars and Co (Vicars Mill) who wrote the following to SDN in January 1943:

Soon enough the council-led Marrickville Day Nursery and Kindergarten Committee was formed, and the below promotional brochure was published to encourage enrolments.

Part of it is illustrated in our Beginnings of brochure here. Nevertheless, the rest of the booklet is most informative about the day-to-day operations of our day nurseries at that time and makes for fascinating reading. Take a look below.