Sydney Rescue Work Society

A photograph of a baby on a white background. Black text cirlcles the photo. 

The Sydney Rescue Society, formed in 1890, was a philanthropic, non-denominational organization that ran refuges and homes for women and children in Sydney and its surrounding suburbs. The society formed eight years after the founder, G.E. Ardill, opened a Women’s Refuge  called 'Home of Hope for Friendless and Fallen Women’. The society was founded on the principles of the New Testament and campaigned for temperance, the reform of alcoholics and prostitutes, and the protection of infants, women, and girls. While the organization successfully helped many women and children, there was controversy surrounding Adrill’s use of pregnant women for labor in his commercial laundry facility. The profits from the laundry were used to finance Adrill’s other operations. Regardless of this criticism, the society is still in operation today albeit under a new name, Integricare Sydney, and has since identified other missions relevant to modern issues.