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Stolen Generations Victoria Ltd

Stolen Generations Victoria Ltd was formed on17 June 2005 to support and address the needs of people affected by practices and policies of removing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from family, community, country and culture. Stolen Generations Vic Ltd was defunded in February 2010 and the service at Wurruk Avenue in Preston closed its…

St James’ Orphan Asylum and Visiting Society

The St James’ Visiting Society was established in April 1845 by parishioners of Melbourne’s first Protestant Church, St James’ Church of England, on the corner of William and Little Collins Streets. In June that year, some Anglican women established the St James’ Dorcas Society. The Society began sheltering orphaned children in 1849, in a building…

Melbourne Family Care Organisation

The Melbourne Family Care Organisation came into being in 1965. It was formerly the former Melbourne Orphanage. The change reflected a shift away from institutional ‘care’ for children towards family group homes. In 1987 the organisation became known as Family Action. Melbourne Family Care Organisation ran a number of family group homes. Records from the…

Family Action

Family Action was the new name given in 1983 to the former Melbourne Family Care Organisation. In 1993, Family Action merged with Family Focus and the National Children’s Bureau of Australia to form OzChild.

Northcote Farm School

The Northcote Farm School was established at Glenmore, near Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, in 1937. It was the only institution in Victoria to have been constructed specifically for child migrants. From 1937 to 1958, the Northcote Farm School received a total of 273 child migrants. From 1962, it changed its function and began to also accept…

Care Leavers Australasia Network

Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN), founded in 2000 in Sydney, is a support and advocacy group for people brought up in care away from their family as state wards or children raised in Children’s Homes, orphanages or other institutions, or in foster care. CLAN is also for anyone who has a close family member who…

Kildonan, Burwood

Kildonan was a children’s Home in Burwood run by the Presbyterian Church of Victoria from 1937. Formerly, Kildonan had operated a children’s home in North Melbourne. Kildonan accommodated boys and girls, aged between 2 and 15. In 1961 the government-run Allambie Reception Centre opened on the site. The Kildonan home in Elgar Road, Burwood was…

Kilmany Family Care

Kilmany Family Care came into being in 1979. It operated family group homes in East Gippsland, including one house specifically for Aboriginal children, with an Aboriginal cottage mother. In 2002, the organisation became known as Kilmany UnitingCare. Kilmany Family Care came into being in 1979 when the Uniting Church appointed a new Council to be…

Richmond Community Care Incorporated

Richmond Community Care Inc. was established in 1989. It took over the management of three residential units, formerly managed by Kildonan Homes for Children. From 1995 to 2000, Richmond Community Care was a program of Jesuit Social Services. Richmond Community Care Inc. Was incorporated as a new organisation in 1989, separate to Kildonan. From 1995…

The Presbyterian Society for Neglected and Destitute Children

The Presbyterian Society for Neglected and Destitute Children was established in 1893, with prominent child rescuer Selina Sutherland as its agent. In late 1894, there was a very public disagreement between Sutherland and the Presbyterian Church over a dictate that the Society would only receive children under legal guardianship, and over preference given to Presbyterian…