Archives



Tasmanian Aboriginal Child Care Association

The Tasmanian Aboriginal Child Care Association was established in 1983 in Launceston. In 2014, it provides long term day child care, an Aboriginal parenting support service, and manages the funds for other projects that support learning for young Aboriginal people. The Tasmanian Aboriginal Child Care Association was established by Molly Mallett who was born on…

Launceston Girls’ Industrial School

The Launceston Girls’ Industrial School, which was managed by a Board of Governors and Ladies Committee, opened in 1877. It trained girls up to the age of 16 in domestic and laundry work. In 1921, it became the Launceston Girls’ Home. The Launceston Girls’ Industrial School was established under the auspices of the 1867 Industrial…

Hobart Girls’ Industrial School

The Hobart Girls Industrial School opened as the Hobart Town Female Refuge in 1862. It was for girls considered to be neglected. In 1945, the Salvation Army took the School over and renamed it the Maylands Salvation Army Home for Girls. Hobart Girls’ Industrial School had eight different locations between 1862 and 1945. The first…

Department for Community Welfare, State Government of Tasmania

The Department for Community Welfare replaced the Social Welfare Department in 1983. It provided financial and other assistance to people with inadequate incomes and managed children’s services, including the supervision of state wards. In July 1989, the Department was amalgamated with the Housing Department and Corrective Services to form the new Department of Community Services….

Central Committee for Boarding Out Destitute Children

The Central Committee for Boarding Out Destitute Children was established in 1881. It was a volunteer Committee that inspected the foster homes of children placed in them under the Public Charities Act 1873. The Secretary of the newly established Neglected Children’s Department abolished the Committee in 1898. The Public Charities Act 1873 provided for a…

Sisters of Charity of Australia

The Sisters of Charity of Australia was established in Parramatta on 31 December 1838. The Sisters came from Ireland at the request of the Archbishop of Sydney to care for the convicts at the Female Factory in Parramatta and the children at the Female Orphan School. In 1847, some of the Sisters moved to Tasmania…

Centacare Tasmania

Centacare replaced the Catholic Family Welfare Bureau in 1977. In 2013, it continued to assist families and to offer adoption services. It ran the Annie Kenney Young Women’s Refuge. In 2015 Centacare Tasmania changed its name to CatholicCare Tasmania. Part VI of the Adoption of Children Act 1988 made information on adoptions arranged by the…

Boys’ Training School

The Boys’ Training School opened in South Hobart in 1884. It was a government institution for young male offenders. In 1896, it moved to the New Town Charitable Institution. In 1922, it moved again, this time to Deloraine where, in 1926, it became the Ashley Home for Boys. The Boys’ Training School was established under…

Omaru Receiving Home

Omaru Receiving Home, run by the government, was established in the early twentieth century. It was in Launceston. The Home provided temporary accommodation for children who were wards of the state or supervised in other ways by successive child welfare departments. It closed in about 1965 and the building was used for Omaru Hostel. Omaru…

Laroona Family Group Home

Laroona Family Group Home, run by the government, opened in Battery Point in 1983. It provided temporary accommodation for children who were wards of the state or supervised in other ways by the Department of Community Welfare and its successors. The Home closed in about 2009. Laroona Family Group Home was in Battery Point, an…