The Board of Management was a group of appointed or elected persons responsible for overseeing the administration of a non-government children’s Home or other institution. Boards had varying levels of responsibility and might have overseen such aspects as financial management, staffing, applications for admission, health, education, rules and regulations and general maintenance of the institution….
The Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships was established in late 2020. It amalgamated the recently abolished Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships with the Seniors and Disability Services functions of the former Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors. In May 2023, the Department of Seniors,…
The Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships was established in 2015. It replaced the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs Department. The Department administered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy, rights and culture. Within the Department, the Community and Personal Histories team helped people to trace their personal and family history,…
Children’s Home is a term commonly used during the period from the 1920s to the 1970s to describe children’s institutions, including orphanages. Click here to see the full Find & Connect glossary
A Holiday Home was an institution designed to provide short-term accommodation for children in need. Some children from other institutions were sent to spend holiday periods at Holiday Homes while staff were on leave. Children were also sent from institutions for temporary stays in private homes during holiday periods. The parents in these homes were…
Juvenile Justice Centre is a term adopted in around the 1990s to describe institutions providing custodial accommodation for remanded or sentenced young people. These places were also sometimes known as juvenile detention centres or youth detention centres. At times, young people have been accommodated in adult prisons. Click here to see the full Find &…
The term Kindergarten refers to an educational institution for pre-school aged children. Often these accommodated children on a daily basis, but some emergency kindergartens also provided short term residential accommodation. Click here to see the full Find & Connect glossary
The term Adoption Agency refers to any organisation involved in the adoption of babies and children, whether this was mandated by legislation or not. The adoption of children was, and is, controlled by state laws and the states of Australia introduced their first adoption acts at different times, beginning with Western Australia in 1896. Prior…
The term Receiving Home refers to an institution designed to provide short term ‘care’ for children before they were sent to a longer term placement (typically a foster home). Receiving Homes could be large institutions. Sometimes children spent long periods in a Receiving Home, when suitable placements could not be found for them. Children also…
The Newcastle Shelter was established in 1906 as temporary accommodation for children awaiting hearings at the local Children’s Court, children who were on remand, or who were otherwise in the custody of the police. It operated from the private home of Miss King, who, along with her daughter, ran the shelter with support from the…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
