Hawkesbury People and Places
Rainbow Lodge School for Handicapped Children
The building known as Rainbow Lodge was located across the road from ‘Goldfinders’ and was near the bridge over Little Wheeny Creek on what is now known as Old Bells Line of Road, Kurrajong. It was originally constructed as Wheeny Creek Guest House in about 1930 by Arnold Sampson to take advantage of the popularity of the Kurrajong area for holiday makers from Sydney who were often met at the railway station by representatives of the many guest houses in the area. The line from Richmond to Kurrajong was opened in 1926.
In the early 1960s the building was purchased by the Handicapped Children’s Centre of New South Wales.
By the early 1970s, the centre had closed and the children relocated to another facility in the Blue Mountains. By this time the building was in poor condition and in 1971 was burned to the ground. The incident was reported in the Hawkesbury Courier newspaper.
Reference: 23 October 1968, p 1
(excerpt from article)
“On Monday a fire was burning along Wheeny Creek and endangering Rainbow Lodge. As a precautionary measure all the children were evacuated to the Kurrajong CWA Rooms, where they were looked after by local women, those who couldn’t be taken to their homes being billeted in the village”.
In October 1968, the centre was threateded by a bushfire and the children were evacuated to safety in the Kurrajong CWA Rooms where they were cared for by local women.
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