Baptcare (formerly known as Baptist Community Care) traces its origins back to 1945, when the Victorian Baptist Women’s Association’s fundraising efforts led to the establishment of Strathalan Community, an aged care facility in Macleod. Baptist Community Care became Baptcare in 2006. Baptist Community Care ran Abercare Family Services, which was a temporary care program operating…
The Allenby Lodge Young Women’s Hostel, at 410 Burwood Road, Glenferrie (Hawthorn) was established by the Salvation Army in 1919. It catered for young women from the Army’s Homes at Camberwell and Kew who were unable to return home, or to secure appropriate board and lodging. According to O’Hanlon, Allenby Lodge was designed ‘to provide…
The Alexandra Babies’ Home was established in around 1909. It housed up to 36 children aged under five years of age. Most were state wards. Many children were transferred to the Ballarat Orphanage when they were four. In 1964, it was known as the Alexandra Toddlers’ Home. It closed in 1974. The Alexandra Babies’ Home…
The Ballarat Female Refuge was established in 1867 by a group of protestant women, with the objective of reforming ‘prostitutes’. It became a shelter for single mothers. It was the first such institution on Australia’s goldfields. In 1921, the Refuge became part of the Ballarat Town and City Mission Rescue and Children’s Home. Initially, the…
Harrison House in Hawthorn was established in 1960. Run by the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, it provided hostel-style residential accommodation for wards of state, boys on probation from the courts or institutions, and boys coming to Melbourne to find work from Kilmany Park in Gippsland. In its early years, it was known as Arthur Harrison…
The Copelen Street Family Centre was established in 1974 in South Yarra. It included a children’s care centre, offered family counselling, and provided foster care. By the late 1980s the South Yarra property was sold and in 1991, the Centre was renamed Copelen Child and Family Services. The Copelen Street Family Centre grew out of…
Connections UnitingCare is an amalgamation of several agencies brought together in May 2000. Connections provides services including adolescent community placement, adoption and permanent care and an adoption information service. Connections holds adoption records for all the Uniting Church’s babies’ facilities and children’s facilities. These facilities include institutions formerly operated by the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches….
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 John’s Homes for Boys and Girls came into 1958. Previously, it had been called St John’s Home for Boys. The name change reflected a decision by the Board of Management in 1956 that St John’s was to move towards a cottage system of accommodation and could start to receive both boys and girls. The…
The Melbourne Orphan Asylum was established in 1853. This was the new name for St James’ Orphan Asylum which dated back to 1851. Until 1853 the institution was run by the St James Orphan Asylum and Visiting Society, a Church of England organisation that established the first children’s institution in the colony of Victoria. The…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
