Archives



Education Department, State of Tasmania

The Education Department was established by the Education Act of 1885. The aim was to provide a free, compulsory, and secular education to children between the ages of seven and thirteen. In 1912, this was raised to 14. In 2013, the Department is responsible for primary and secondary education, library and information services, vocational education…

Tasmanian Archives

Tasmanian Archives, previously the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), and the Archives Office of Tasmania, was created in 2011 following amalgamation with the Heritage Collections at the State Library of Tasmania. Tasmanian Archives operates under the Archives Act 1983. Its collection includes the records of all government departments and agencies involved in the welfare…

Child Protection Board

The Child Protection Board succeeded the Child Protection Assessment Board in 1991. It was more concerned with policy, community and professional education than the old Board had been. Following the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act (1997) the government abolished the Child Protection Board in 1998. The new name reflected the changed role for…

Child Protection Assessment Board

The Child Protection Assessment Board was established by the Child Protection Act of 1974. It was a statutory body which had responsibility for protecting children who were treated cruelly or at risk of it. The Board was a multi-disciplinary team made up of five members including a legal practitioner who was in the chair, a…

Child Welfare Division

The Child Welfare Division of the Social Services Department, and the Social Welfare Department that succeeded it, managed all aspects of child welfare work, including foster care and the government-run homes. In 1970, the Child Welfare Division had a Head Office in Hobart and three District Offices in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie. Following de-centralisation of…

Child Welfare Advisory Council

The Child Welfare Advisory Council began meeting in 1965. It provided advice to the Minister about issues related to children who were state wards or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department and its successors. The Council was abolished in about 1998. The Child Welfare Advisory Council was established under section 5 of…

Social Policy Planning Unit

The Social Policy Planning Unit, located within the Department of Social Welfare and its successors, was established in 1975. It conducted research into policy change and made recommendations to the Director of the Department. The Unit closed in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The Social Policy Planning Unit employed a Unit Supervisor, a clerical…

State Psychological Clinic

The State Psychological Clinic, the first in Australia, was set up under the Mental Deficiency Act 1920 to diagnose and classify children with what is now known as intellectual disability, research it, and instruct teachers. The Clinic’s statutory existence ended in December 1964 following the passage of the Mental Health Act 1963 but since its…

Guardianship Board

The Guardianship Board, established by the Mental Health Act of 1963, replaced the Mental Deficiency Board in 1963. Its purpose was to assume the guardianship of people with an intellectual disability or mental illness. It also advised the Minister about the care, treatment and occupations of people suffering from an intellectual disability or psychiatric illness….

Mental Deficiency Board

The Mental Deficiency Board was established in 1922 by the 1920 Mental Deficiency Act. It oversaw the classification and management of children and adults deemed to have an intellectual disability. The Board supervised a number of state wards in conjunction with the Children of the State, and later, the Social Services Departments. The Guardianship Board…