Salvation Army Australia, Records of Homes in the former Southern Territory is a collection of records relating to former residents of Salvation Army institutions in South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The Salvation Army in these states was known as the Southern Territory from 1921 until 2018. Care Leavers who apply for access to their records may receive some information from case files, admission registers, maintenance books, or visitors’ books. Some photos have also survived. There are name indexes which are searched when a former resident makes an enquiry, but some manual searching is still required.
Access Conditions
For access to these records please contact The Salvation Army. Former residents and clients can access information about themselves after providing proof of identity. Access to information may be given to a third party providing they have written permission from the person to whom the information relates, can prove a connection with that person, or show evidence that the person is deceased. All other applications for access will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Records
Care leavers who apply for access to records may receive some information from case files, admission registers, maintenance books, or visitors books. Some photos have also survived. There are name indexes which are searched when a former resident makes an enquiry, but some manual searching is still required.
Poor record-keeping practices of the past mean that some records were lost or destroyed over time, and others are brief or incomplete. Like many organisations, the Salvation Army kept records for administrative purposes and the records were, regrettably, not written or kept with the needs of adult care leavers in mind.
Those who receive little information may find some value in administrative records. For example, the Salvation Army kept a history book for every children’s home that it ran, though some have not survived. The surviving books contain information about major events at the Home, such as garden parties, rather than information about children. Please note that The Salvation Army Australia Museum in Melbourne has a collection of historical records, memorabilia and photographs relating to many children’s institutions.
In 2013, the Salvation Army Southern Territory provided the Find & Connect web resource with lists, detailing what records they hold about institutions in what was then known as its Southern Territory. This information about records is provided here, in a separate section for each state: South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTIONS
The Salvation Army Heritage Centre, Archives and Museum at Nailsworth in South Australia, formerly held records related to Salvation Army homes in SA. In 2012 this Centre closed and all records related to former residents were transferred to the Salvation Army Australian Southern Territory Territorial Headquarters at Blackburn in Victoria.
This is a list of the records from South Australian institutions:
Salvation Army Boys’ Home, Mount Barker:
- Admission registers (1960-1982)
- Admission cards (1957-1982)
- Miscellaneous files and reports (1960s to 1980s)
- Miscellaneous incomplete files
- Book Records: Mount Barker 1900-1915, Mount Barker 1900-1925 (School Registrations)
Salvation Army Girls’ Home, Fullarton:
- Admission cards, 1957-1986 (with some gaps)
- History books, 1900-1986; 1990-1994
- History photos, 1982
Salvation Army Boys’ Home, Kent Town:
Kent Town Boys’ Home History Book, 1932 to 1972. Entries mainly concern visits by members of The Salvation Army and other dignitaries, inspections of the Home and staff movements. Diary includes some mention of boys’ activities including outings and Christmas parties. Outbreaks of illness are also noted, as is the boys’ involvement in the local Salvation Army Corps as junior soldiers. All information is general. Names are mentioned on only two occasions when the death of former residents is recorded.
TASMANIAN INSTITUTIONS
Barrington Boys’ Home:
- miscellaneous incomplete files
- children’s register, 1962-1972
- children’s holiday records, 1969-1972
Rock Lynn House:
- book records, 1904-1912, 1939-1948, and 1954-1960
- history book, containing documents about events, such as garden parties
It is possible that some records from this institution may have been destroyed in a laundry fire during the 1960s.
Elim Maternity Hospital:
- book records, 1899-1910, 1925-1939 and 1919 to 1921
- miscellaneous incomplete files for Elim babies and Elim temporary stay clients.
- Another set of files entitled ‘Elim’ does not have a description.
Maylands Salvation Army Home for Girls
- some miscellaneous incomplete files.
VICTORIAN INSTITUTIONS
Miscellaneous incomplete files, including client records:
- Albion House [Brunswick Girls’ Home]
- Bayswater
- Bayswater No 1
- Bayswater No 2
- Bayswater No 3
- Box Hill Boys Home
- Camberwell [William Booth Girls’ Home]
- East Kew [Catherine Booth Girls’ Home]
- Carinya Youth Hostel
- Kardinia
- The Haven
Admission Books
- Bayswater
- Bayswater 1893 – 1896 (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1893 – 1908 (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1899 – 1902 (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1900 – 1917 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1902 – 1905 (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1905 – 1914 (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1903 – 1911 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1908 – 1914 (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1912 – 1920 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1914 – 1916 (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1914 – 1917 (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1918 – 1929 (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1920 – 1927 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1922 – 1943 (After Care)
- Bayswater 1923 – 1930 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater1928 – 1935 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1932 – 1934 Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1935 – 1941 (1) (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1935 – 1942 (2) (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater 1935 – 1943 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1941 – 1944 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1941 – 1946 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1945 – 1949 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1950 – 1958 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1956 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Bayswater 1970s – (Children’s Register)
- Bayswater Book 3 – (Admissions Discharges)
- Box Hill Boys Home 1939 – 1944 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Box Hill Boys Home 1941 – 1956 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Box Hill Boys Home 1942 – 1946 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Box Hill Boys Home 1946 – 1952 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Box Hill Boys Home 1956 – 1967 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Box Hill Boys Home 1956 – 1963 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Box Hill Boys Home 1963 – 1968 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Box Hill Boys Home 1970 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Box Hill Children’s Home 1968 – 1971 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Brayton [Brayton Youth Hostel] 1980 – 1991
- Brayton 1982
- Brayton 1984 – 1985 (2)
- Brayton 1984 – 1986
- Brayton 1985
- Brayton 1987
- Brunswick Rescue Home 1889 -1898 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Brunswick Rescue Home 1890’s (Admissions & Discharges)
- Camberwell Children’s Home 1919 -1927 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Camberwell Children’s Home 1920 -1925 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Camberwell Children’s Home 1928 -1964 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Camberwell Children’s Home 1949 – 1964 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Camberwell Children’s Home 1954 – 1964 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Camberwell Children’s Home 1962 – 1971 (Admissions & Discharges)
- East Kew 1898 – 1907 (Admittance & Discharges)
- East Kew 1900 – 1918 (Admittances & Discharges)
- East Kew 1910 – 1919 (Admittances & Discharges)
- East Kew 1912 – 1925 (Admittances & Discharges)
- East Kew 1914 – 1925 (Admittances & Discharges)
- East Kew 1919 – 1932 (Admittances & Discharges)
- East Kew 1924 – 1925 (Admittances & Discharges)
- East Kew 1924 – 1978 (Admittances & Discharges)
- East Kew 1932 – 1940 (Admittance & Discharges)
- Catherine Booth 1924 – 1978 (Admittance & Discharges)
- Glenroy Girls Home 1904 – 1910 (Admissions & Discharges)
- Hillview House [The Harbour] 1890 – 1912
- Hillview House 1900 – 1903
- Hillview House 1904 – 1907
- Hillview House 1907 – 1911
- Hillview House 1912 – 1918
- Hillview House 1928 – 1933
- Hillview House 1933 – 1944
- Hillview House 1970 – 1974
- Hillview House 1982 – 1984
- Jacana Children’s Home 1976 – 1988 (Admittance Book)
- Kardinia 1965 – 1974
- Kardinia 1969 – 1974
- The Haven Book 4
- The Haven 1925 – 1931 (Admittance Book)
- The Haven 1927 – 1930 (Admittance Book)
- The Haven 1960 – 1975 (Admittance Book)
Other records
Bayswater
- History Sheets No 1 Home 1956
- History Sheets No 2 Home 1945 – 1949
- History Sheets No 3 Home 1935 – 1941
- Visitors Book 1946
Box Hill
- Historical Records 1913 – 1975
- Historical Records 1975 – 1984
- Historical Records Post 1984
- Visitors Book 1970 – 1975
- Welfare Payments 1951 – 1955
East Kew
- Grade V11 School Photo 1951
- Grade 1C School Photo 1969
- Photos
Kardinia
- Filing Register 1961 – 1982
- Miscellaneous School Photos
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTIONS
The Salvation Army holds Book Records and Miscellaneous Files relating to institutions in Western Australia.
The collection includes admission and discharge records, punishment books, historical records and “miscellaneous incomplete files”. The Salvation Army has advised that these records relate to these Homes in WA: the Salvation Army Boys’ Home and Hollywood Children’s Village in Nedlands; Collie Boys’ Home; the Salvation Army Girls’ Home in Cottesloe; and Seaforth in Gosnells. There are also registers for Hillcrest and its predecessors: the Cornelie Home in Highgate and The Open Door in Fremantle.
Records relating to Western Australian Homes that are held by the Salvation Army Australian Southern Territory Headquarters in Melbourne include:
- Files – Miscellaneous Incomplete Files: Nedlands Boys Home
- Book Records Collie: Collie Boys Home No. 2 (Punishment Book); Collie Girls Home 1910-1920 (Admissions and Discharges)
- Book Records Cottesloe Girls Home (1959)
- Book Records Hillcrest (1898-1974, historical records), with record dates inclusive of Cornelie Home and The Open Door
- Book Records Nedlands/Hollywood (Admittance Book, 1968-1970)
- Book Records Seaforth Boys Home (Punishment Book 1921-1959)
- Book Records Seaforth Girls Home (1919-1936)
