The Young Christian Workers’ Movement (YCW) was established in the late 1930s in Melbourne. It was part of a worldwide YCW movement, founded in Belgium in 1912. By 1950, YCW groups had been established in 60 countries. The group established in Melbourne was originally for boys – there was also a National Catholic Girls Movement, and the two merged in 1959 (Australian Young Christian Workers, 2024).
The Melbourne YCW Priests Committee was established in 1939 and in 1941 the Melbourne YCW was recognised as an official Catholic Action organisation for young working men aged between 14 and 18 in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. The 1950s was a period of dramatic expansion and consolidation for the Australian YCW, with the movement spreading across the country and expanding its services, sporting and social activities and real estate portfolio (Australian Young Christian Workers, 2024).
The YCW was briefly involved with child migration to Victoria, conducting a program to nominate young people from overseas to come and work in Australia (Good British Stock, 1999). It also ran hostels: one for young migrant workers in Hawthorn in the late 1940s and early 1950s, as well as a hostel in Albert Park from 1946 to 1963.
The Australian Young Christian Workers continues to exist in 2026.