Our history

A black and white photo of a community fair, highlighting Whiddon's long term involvement with local communities.

Whiddon has a long and proud history that began with our philanthropic Masonic founders back in the early 1920s.

 

Our history

We were founded by Freemasons and have been caring for elderly people in regional, rural and remote communities across New South Wales and more recently, Queensland, for over seventy years. We’ve grown into a large and award-winning aged care provider. Today we are known as Whiddon and our philosophy remains the same – we believe that ageing should be a rich and rewarding journey for everyone.

 

Our journey

Our journey began in 1923, when a small group of Freemasons began visiting elderly masons and their wives in their local communities to provide care and support to those in need. In 1947, Mrs Ethel Symonds donated 21 acres of land in Glenfield, in Sydney’s Macarthur Region. This land became the founding site of The Frank Whiddon Masonic Homes of NSW and so our journey began.

Our founding site, now known as The Whiddon Group Easton Park, began with a small number of cottages in 1948 and development continues today. In the 1970s, we opened aged care homes in Hornsby, Wingham and Kyogle, and in the 1980s and 1990s, we grew even further with new homes in Belmont, Bathurst, Maclean, Grafton, Laurieton, Casino, Redhead, Largs and Narrabri. Throughout this period, we also opened a number of independent retirement living villages, from Temora in the Riverina,  Adamstown and Hamilton in Newcastle, to Yamba in the Far North Coast.

We are immensely proud of our rich and charitable history and our continued work in communities across regional, rural and remote Australia.