In 1846, brothers Edward and Henry Peirson, left England and set out for an Australian adventure. They settled on adjoining properties calling their farms Heytesbury and Redcliff respectively. These names live on in the names of the group homes that were established on the farm. The generosity of their children lead to the establishment of the Peirson Memorial Trust.
Two of the daughters of Henry Peirson, Ethel and Pearl, relocated to Brisbane and attended the Ann St Presbyterian Church. On the death of their sister Lillis, they bequeathed the Heytesbury estate to the Church to be used as a training farm for boys. This led to the establishment of the Peirson Memorial Trust. In 1951 Ethel bequeathed the Redcliff property to the Trust. In 1954 the Trustees decided to utilise the property as a group home for boys. In 1955, the first boys were welcomed into Redcliff. This was the first family group home in Queensland.
Soon the group home was unable to meet the demand for children needing accommodation. In 1968, the Peirson Memorial Trust opened a second home, Heytesbury, and upgraded Redcliff. Both group homes provided residential care until 2010 at which time the homes were decommissioned.
From the early 90’s, in addition to residential care service, a range of support services for children, youth and families in the Wide Bay area have been offered in conjunction with the Queensland Government’s support. This has been provided through Peirson Services counselling and intervention services for a time in Hervey Bay and still to this day in Bundaberg.
In 2016 we also entered into a partnership with the Bundaberg Youth Justice Service to deliver the Transition to Success (T2S) program at our Goodwood Road farm.
