Outreach Incorporated was a voluntary organisation formed in Canberra in 1967. From 1968, it ran a hostel in Lyneham for adolescent boys and, from 1969, a hostel for girls in Curtin. Residents were supervised by ‘house parents’. During 1974-1975, Outreach Incorporated was dissolved and responsibility for the hostels was assumed by a committee under the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn.
The Lyneham hostel was intended to be for adolescent boys ‘in need of accommodation and supervision away from their parents.’ The property was provided on a rent-free basis by the Department of the Interior.
In 1969 the organisation bought a hostel for girls located in Curtin with some financial support from the Department of the Interior. Residents were supervised by ‘house parents’ in order to provide a more normal ‘home atmosphere’ until such time as the young people were able to cope with private accommodation or could return to their families.