The Rutherglen Viticultural College, Chiltern Valley Road, Rutherglen, from 1904 accepted wards of the state deemed to be suitable for viticultural and general farm work as trainees. The Department for Neglected Children and Reformatory Schools and the Agricultural Department struck an agreement to facilitate this placement. The arrangement appears to have ceased by 1927. The…
Straight View Farm Reformatory School was established in Harcourt, Victoria in 1895. It accommodated Roman Catholic boys from the ages of 11 to 17. It closed in 1919. The Straight View Farm Reformatory School was a private reformatory established to accommodate Roman Catholic boys at Harcourt. Their housing in this small cottage farm school, where…
The Antonian Children’s Home as it was known from 1966, formerly the Antonian Institute for Children, was established in Richmond in 1959 to cater for children of Italian origin, including state wards. It closed in 1979. The Antonian Institute for Children was established at 311 Church Street, Richmond in 1959 by the Daughters of Divine…
The Geelong Female Refuge was established in 1868 at Kildare, initially to house and reform ‘fallen’ women who had nowhere to live. By 1893 the Refuge accepted pregnant unmarried women who were prepared to have their babies at the refuge and remain for a further 12 months with their baby. By 1928 it had evolved…
Blamey House, in Willsmere Road, Kew, was run by Melbourne Legacy. Until 1977, the Home had been known as Harelands. It provided accommodation for boys aged 13 years and older, who were children of deceased service personnel. It closed in 1980. Blamey House (1977-1980) was in Willsmere Road, Kew. The property had previously been a…
Four Flats Hostel was established in Power Street, Hawthorn in 1977 by the Jesuit Social Services. This hostel provided accommodation for young, homeless offenders aged between 17 and 21 years who were released from Victoria’s correctional institutions. The hostel closed towards the end of 1981. Four Flats moved to a non-residential centre in Collingwood. Four…
The Deborah, was a hulk (ship) anchored in Hobsons Bay. In July 1864 it became the colony of Victoria’s first Reformatory for Boys from the Industrial schools. By 1865, it accommodated 108 boys sentenced under the Neglected and Criminal Children’s Act of 1864. The Deborah was one of four ships used as reformatories or industrial…
The Friendly Brothers Society (1845-c.1880) was a lay Catholic association which played a leading role in providing for vulnerable children in Melbourne and Geelong. During the 1840s and 1850s members of the society arranged private boarding placements for children in need. From the late 1850s Catholic orphanages emerged as the Church’s preferred means of providing…
St Paul’s Discovery Centre was established in 1979 by the Reverend Ian Paxton of the Mission of St James and St John. It was located on the site of the former St Paul’s Home for Boys at Newhaven, Phillip Island. St Paul’s operated as holiday camp for ‘disadvantaged’ children. St Paul’s Discovery Centre opened in…
The University of Melbourne Archives was established in July 1960, initially to collect and preserve records relating to the University and to business and business people for the purposes of historical research. The University’s own records date from its foundation in 1853 and as well as administrative records, records of student societies and the personal…