Outdoor dining area at Antilyas

Preparing for a meal in the outdoor dining area at Antilyas Orphanage. This Near East Relief orphanage was funded by donations from Australia and New Zealand.

Boys sitting on the ground, Antilyas

Boys sitting on the ground at Antilyas Orphanage. Nellie Miller’s original caption reads: “Here are the Antilyas boys.  As lovely a bunch of Armenian boys as we have, and all of them such devoted Christians, following their leader Mr. Houyoumdyian, a young man of about 25 years.”

Lesson on the beach at Antilyas

Nellie Miller’s original caption reads: “A class on the beach ot the boys orphanage at Antilyas where there were 1400 boys at one time.” Antilyas produced such well-educated boys that it the trade school began to accept paying students from the community.

Child with two relief workers

Mrs. John H. Knudsen (left) of New Zealand, and Miss Hilda King (right) of Australia with an unnamed child at the gates to Antilyas Orphanage, which opened in 1922. Mrs. Knudsen gave birth to a baby boy in 1923. The Knudsens joked that they weren’t sure of their son’s nationality: he was born to New Zealander parents, delivered by an American nurse, at an Australian orphanage, in a Syrian city under French control.

Arriving at Antilyas

Boys arriving in Antilyas, Syria after evacuation from Ottoman Turkey. The woman in a hat is a relief worker.

Girls working in Antilyas sewing shop

Girls learned plain, fancy, and machine sewing as well as pattern-making. This prepared them to earn a living and to make clothing for their future families.