Archives



Presbyterian Babies’ Home

The Presbyterian Babies’ Home opened in 1928 in East Melbourne. In around 1933, the Home relocated to Camberwell. It housed babies and children up to the age of four. In 1977, it became the Canterbury Family Centre. The Argus newspaper reported on the opening of The Presbyterian Babies’ Home by Lady Stonehaven on 26 October…

St Joseph’s Babies’ and Family Service

St Joseph’s Babies’ and Family Service in Glenroy was established in 1985 when the Sisters of St Joseph merged the St Joseph’s Babies’ Home in Glenroy with the St Joseph’s Receiving Home in Carlton. The Babies’ and Family Service was located in a small residential unit that had previously been part of the St Joseph’s…

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 and from 1962 it accepted local children, including wards of the…

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…