The Harbour, in West Brunswick, was established by the Salvation Army in 1898. It operated as a maternity home and home for young women aged 14 to 18. It closed in 1994.
The Harbour was situated in Cohuna Street, West Brunswick.
According to the DHHS guide ‘Finding Records’, the commercial laundry that operated at the Harbour closed in the 1960s. From that time, the institution focused on the needs of teenage girls, supporting their transition to independent living. From the mid 1960s until it closed in 1994, the institution was known as Hillview House.
The Harbour was mentioned in the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices Inquiry (2012) as an institution that was involved in forced adoption. One woman’s submission said:
Living in the home for 4½ months was a very impersonal, detached experience for me. No-one on the staff made the effort to befriend me or offer me any support or counselling and this feeling of isolation from everything and everybody pervaded the whole institution. I felt totally alone. At no time was I invited to discuss my pregnancy , to talk about my future or my child’s future. The emphasis was always on adoption being what was ‘best for the child’ – ‘if you love your baby then you will give it up for adoption’. There was never any acknowledgment that to relinquish my child would be a major loss for me and for him. I was not treated as an expectant mother but rather encouraged to think of my baby as not being mine but belonging to some perfect deserving married couple (submission 157).
From
1898
To
1994
Alternative Names
Hillview House
1898 - 1994
The Harbour Home was located at 20 Cohuna Street, West Brunswick, Victoria (Building Still standing)