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Resurrection House

Resurrection House, Essendon was established in 1952 and run by the Sisters of the Resurrection. First intended for Polish migrants, it housed children from 1954, including some state wards. It ceased to be a children’s Home in 1971. In 2019 Resurrection House is a Catholic school. Resurrection House was situated at 6 Aberfeldie Street, Essendon….

Australian Jewish Welfare Society

The Australian Jewish Welfare Society (AJWS) was established in 1936, primarily as a support agency for Jewish pre-war and post-war migrants. Some Jewish children fleeing the Nazis in Germany and Austria immigrated to Australia, some being cared for at Frances Barkman House in Balwyn, Victoria. In 2001 the Australian Jewish Welfare Society was renamed Jewish…

Frances Barkman Homes

The Frances Barkman Homes were run by the Australian Jewish Welfare Society (AJWS). From the late 1930s, the Society used a Balwyn mansion, Larino, to accommodate Jewish children migrating from Germany and Austria, including survivors of the Holocaust. In the 1960s, the Society shifted its model of care towards family group homes in the Caulfield…

Melrose Training Farm for Boys

The Melrose Training Farm for Boys was established by the Try Society in 1938 at Harkaway, near Berwick. Previously, the Try Society ran the Clifden Farm and Try Boys’ Home at St Andrew’s North, but decided to move the institution to the new site where there were “better facilities for teaching agriculture and better housing…

Elizabeth Fry Retreat

The Elizabeth Fry Retreat, South Yarra, was established by Quakers in 1884 as a home for female ex-prisoners. In 1943, Melbourne City Mission took over the Retreat, who offered a home for ‘friendless and wayward women and girls’. In 1957 the Retreat was renamed Swinborn Lodge. The Elizabeth Fry Retreat in South Yarra was a…

Church of England Boys’ Society Training Farm

The Church of England Boys’ Society Training Farm was established in 1937 in Lysterfield. It was first managed by The Rev. R.G. Nichols, and in 1942 was taken over by the Church of England Boys’ Society (Cebs). In 1945, the Farm moved to Yering. At this time, the institution was known as St Hubert’s. In…

Burwood Boys’ Home

The Burwood Boys’ Home was established in 1895 by Robert Campbell Edwards and run by non-denominational Committee of Management. The Home first housed boys aged between 9 and 15. Girls were accepted to the Home from the early 1970s, when the name changed to the Burwood Children’s Home. The Burwood Boys’ Home, at 155 Warrigal…

Lutheran Children’s Home

The Lutheran Children’s Home (also known as the Lutheran Peace Memorial Home) was established in 1950 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia. The Home, located in Canterbury Road, Surrey Hills, housed the children of widowed post-war immigrants, to enable the women to work. In 1955, the Home relocated to a larger property in Sackville…

Ballarat Orphanage Boys’ Hostel

The Ballarat Orphanage Boys’ Hostel was established in 1927. It housed boys (up to the age of 18) from the Orphanage who had been apprenticed out to various trades. The Boys’ Hostel in Victoria Street was formerly a private hospital called Warrawee. The hostel closed in 1961 when it was purchased by the Social welfare…

Brookside Private Reformatory for Protestant Girls

The Brookside Private Reformatory for Protestant Girls was established in 1887 by Mrs Elizabeth Rowe. One of the first privately-run reformatories in Victoria, Brookside was located in the town of Cape Clear, near Scarsdale. It closed in 1903. The Brookside Private Reformatory for Protestant Girls was established on 29 December 1887. In a visit to…