Linnwood is an historic house set on 5 hectares of ground at Guildford in the Western Suburbs of Sydney. The house was built in 1891 by George McCredie, a prominent businessman of the day, Mayor of Prospect & Sherwood, and Independent member for the State seat of Central Cumberland, an independent free trader and an advocate of female suffrage. 

After his time in government, George McCredie was called upon to supervise the cleansing of the City of Sydney when there was an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in 1900. 

A few years after his death in 1903, his wife Susan McCredie (nee' Blackwood) leased the property to the Education Department as the State’s first and only Boys Truant School. The Department then purchased the property in 1921.

In 1936 the property converted to a residential girls school for State Wards aged 14 years and upwards.

By 1966 Linnwood was seen as a Special Training School for Home Science for girls from deprived backgrounds. With changes in the welfare system, homes like Linnwood gradually became superfluous to the Department of Community Services’ needs.

After learning of the Department’s plans to sell the property on the open market, the Friends of Linnwood formed in 2002 to help ‘preserve and protect’ the property.

Linnwood was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register in February 2003.

Statement of Significance: (NSW State Heritage Register)

"Linnwood, including its associated buildings and landscape, is of state significance as a welfare site that was in operation and use for over 80 years. Since 1917, the site was continually adapted and developed specifically for various welfare uses such as housing and educating state wards. Of particular significance is the use of Linnwood as the first and only Truant School that was in existence in NSW between 1917 and 1936 and was later used by the Department of Welfare as a Girls Home Science Domestic School for state wards.

Linnwood is also significant as an example of a prominent and wealthy city businessman's country retreat that was constructed on a large estate beyond the then outskirts of Sydney. The size and fine detail of this late Victorian residence demonstrates the wealth, aspirations and lifestyles of this class in society.

Specifically, Linnwood is in part representative of its original designer and occupier George McCredie. George McCredie was prominent for a time in the local community through his involvement in the political arena and in community activities. On a broader level George McCredie is known historically for his role in conducting and cleansing of The Rocks following the outbreak of the bubonic plague in 1900, and the building activities of his family firm A.L. & G. McCredie and Sons. The remnant of Linnwood estate can still demonstrate by its scale within its urban setting the former extent of the land holdings of Susan McCredie who was also a prominent local figure in her own right." (City Plan and Heritage Office)                                                                                                                 Information courtesy Heritage NSW : heritage.nsw.gov.au                                                                                                               

The Linnwood Estate is now under the Trusteeship of Cumberland Council.