The Young Christian Workers’ Movement Hostel, Hawthorn, was established in 1948. It was located in a house known as ‘The Terricks’ at the corner of Paterson and Oxley Road. It offered temporary housing to young migrants from Britain. The Hostel closed in 1955.
The Young Christian Workers’ Movement’s plan was for young men to live at the Hostel in Hawthorn for a period of around 3 months, with a view to them finding employment and private accommodation.
The Hostel received fewer young men than the YCW had planned, and it ran at a loss. Fr Lombard wrote to the Commonwealth government in May 1951 about the Hostel’s financial difficulties:
I visited Britain to organise a scheme for obtaining nominations… a total of 49 nominated British migrants have arrived. Already 15 boys have left the hostel, five are working with farmers; nine apprenticed; nine (others) working with the PMG; ten are in private homes in the suburbs. However, the financial burden is a heavy one.
At the end of 1952, the Children’s Welfare Department reported that the hostel had received 124 child migrants. In December 1952, there were 49 boys in residence.
By the mid 1950s, the YCW had withdrawn from youth migration schemes. The Hawthorn hostel closed in 1955..
From
1948
To
1955
Alternative Names
YCW Hostel
YCW Immigration Hostel
1948 - 1955
The YCW Hostel was located on the corner of Paterson and Oxley Roads, Hawthorn, Victoria (Building Still standing)