Providence

Built in 1887, this building was primarily used as a ‘finishing school’ for women who voluntarily admitted themselves to the Abbotsford Convent. Girls were trained for service and ‘kept from adversity’. Originally, dormitories were upstairs, although over time, typing was taught in those rooms. Further classrooms were located downstairs as well as a carriage house that faced the eastern service yard.

Providence once had a stable at the north-east end of the building for horses that did farm work and picked up and delivered laundry. The stables are now a purpose-built workshop where adults with a disability learn skills in the visual and performing arts, through Interact Arts. The restoration of the Providence building was funded by support from the Buckland Foundation, the Fouress Foundation, the Department of Human Services and the Colonial Foundation.