The Government Reformatory for Girls in Coburg was established in 1875. The first reformatory for girls in the colony of Victoria was at Sunbury, established in 1865. The new premises in Coburg were “in immediate contiguity” to Pentridge Prison, in what was later known as G Division. The girls’ reformatory operated there from 1875 until…
In 1873 the Boys’ Reformatory run by the Victorian government moved from the reformatories on board the Sir Harry Smith and the Deborah. The new institution at Coburg was known as the Jika Reformatory for Boys. It was located within the grounds of Pentridge prison. The Royal Commission on Penal and Prison Discipline had stated in…
The Horseshoe was a Home in Carlton for women suffering from venereal disease, run by the Mission of St James and St John. In October 1927, women were transferred from The Horseshoe to the Mission’s new institution at Fairfield, known as Fairhaven. On 31 December 1925, a hotel known as The Horseshoe in Lygon Street…
Ramoth was established in Ferntree Gully in 1926. It was a convalescent Home for young women suffering from venereal diseases. In 1927, the Mission of St James and St John took over Ramoth and it became the Ramoth Toddlers’ Home. Women at Ramoth were transferred to Fairhaven in Fairfield. Ramoth was run in close association…
The Home Mission Society of Victoria was established in circa 1871 by the Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church to undertake mission work in city and country. Under the auspices of the Home Mission Society, the Central Dorcas Society, later called the Wesleyan Church Neglected Children’s Aid Society, ran Livingstone House in Carlton. In 1884,…
The Central Dorcas Society was a Wesleyan organisation established at a meeting of over 100 women in 1888. The aims of the Society were ‘to help the poor and look after waifs’. After a name change to the Central Dorcas Association Help and Rescue Society, in 1891 the Society became known as the Wesleyan Church…
The Melbourne City Mission Toddlers’ Home was situated on the same site as the Melbourne Mission’s Maternity Home, which had accommodated babies with their mothers since 1900. The Home accommodated children up to the age of five. In 1955, the Mission amalgamated the Toddlers’ Home and the Maternity Home. The new Home was renamed Hartnett…
The Gordon Institute, Melbourne, was established in 1886. It offered boys classes and a place to socialise. The Institute aimed to find boys work placements in the country, but did accommodate some boys aged 5 to 14. In 1951, new facilities were opened in Highett, and the institution became known as the Gordon Home for…
The Kardinia Children’s Home in Belmont (Geelong) was established in 1947 and was run by the Salvation Army. Originally it opened as a toddler’s home and accommodated children aged between two and five with children sent to Salvation Army children’s homes in Melbourne upon reaching school age. Later on it provided for children of all…
The Murrumbeena Girls’ Home was established by the Salvation Army in 1897. It accommodated around 40 girls and young women. The Home closed in 1912, with the remaining girls being sent to the newly opened William Booth Girls’ Home in Camberwell. Murumbeena Girls’ Home was located on the corner of Dandenong Road and Belgrave Road,…