‘Glen Mervyn,’ a 1920s home on Coogee Bay Road now serves as a haven for young parents and their children with complex needs, under the management of the Australian Red Cross.
Who was Thomas Field?
Glen Mervyn mansion was built in 1924 for Thomas Alfred Field who was a meat supplier and grazier. When the young Thomas and his family emigrated to Sydney in 1885, his father started a butchering business which he and brothers, Herbert and Sydney, eventually inherited in 1900.
With Thomas at the helm, the family business expanded, acquiring grazing properties and fortifying their wholesale and export business. By World War I, they had control over one-third of Sydney’s wholesale meat trade.
Apart from Glen Mervyn, Thomas’ other property investments include the 200,000-acre Willandra station and Willandra Merino Stud (1912 – 1932) – which he purchased with the Vickery family – and the Lanyon Homestead (1930 – 1971) located on the Murrumbidgee.
Glen Mervyn House and the Young Parents Program
In 1941, Field donated ‘Glen Mervyn’ to the Australian Red Cross on the condition that the residence would be used only for philanthropic or charitable purposes.
As such, in 1942, the Australian Red Cross converted the mansion into a convalescent home for ex-servicemen of World War II, before leasing the property out to Sydney Legacy to serve as a home for Legacy’s wards.
In 1973, the Red Cross regained ownership of Glen Mervyn and established a Junior Red Cross Home there the following year. When its childcare centre closed down, the old mansion became home to the Australian Red Cross’ Young Parents Program. The program supports vulnerable young parents aged 13 to 18 and their children and provides them with residential accommodation and full support services.
The Young Parents Program also provides semi-supported housing accommodation and outreach as well as postnatal groups for parents under 25 years old.
The program provides access to therapeutic case management, parenting classes, educational and vocational opportunities, life skills groups and child development services and playgroups.
All of these are meant to help young mothers and fathers become independent and confident in fulfilling their role as parents.
Glen Mervyn House | 24 Coogee Bay Rd, Randwick NSW 2031, Australia
