'Closed' Agency and General Correspondence Files [Charities Board of Victoria]

‘Closed’ Agency and General Correspondence Files are the files and correspondence of the Charities Board (1923 to 1948) and its successors the Hospitals and Charities Commission (1948 to 1978) and the Hospitals Division of the Health Commission.

Access Conditions

These records are open access. (The word ‘closed’ in the records title does not refer to their access conditions, but means that no more records are being added to this file.)

Records

The Charities Board and the Hospitals and Charities Commission had some responsibilities for oversight of charitable institutions in Victoria. This series contains records relating to the Charities Board’s interactions with particular ‘care’ providers. A large amount of correspondence exists between the charitable institution and the Inspector of Charities. This series also contains correspondence about significant events that occurred at the various institutions, such as the outbreak of disease, the death of children, structural and organisational changes etc.

Many records show that the Inspector’s work included a wide range of issues to do with the institutions and that he sometimes became involved in the cases of individual children.

Researchers can expect to find records relating to:

• Requests from institutions to the Charities Board for grants for building and renovations
• Plans for proposed renovations
• General financial correspondence
• Newspaper clippings relating to the institutions

The records in this collection include:

• Acrimonious correspondence between the Inspector of Charities and the Committee of the Seaside Garden Home that documents the amalgamation of the Home into the Mission of St James and St John in 1934. Includes reference to the ‘mysterious’ death of a young boy at the home which appears to have been the catalyst for these changes ( Seaside Garden Home – Unit 67, file no. 636, 1933-1935)
• Letter and report regarding the outbreak of meningococcal septicaemia and meningitis at St Joseph’s Foundling Hospital, Broadmeadows, (St Joseph’s Foundling Hospital, Broadmeadows, 24/11/1938 and 21/02/1940 – Unit 142, file no. 1379, 1924-1944)
• Extensive correspondence between the Inspector of Charities and various charitable institutions regarding the amendment to Section 43 of the Hospitals and Charities Act, 1928 (Grants to Orphanages – Unit 99, file no. 977, 1941-1942?)
• Children’s diet (menus) – weekly schedule of meals (Ballarat Orphanage, 25/06/1925 and 17/12/1925 – Unit 52, file no. 490, 1923-1934)
• Letter detailing the ‘medical inspection’ of boys at the Ballarat Orphanage (Ballarat Orphanage, 1926 – Unit 52, file no. 490, 1923-1934)
• ‘Superintendents and Matrons Association of Victoria: Rules governing the Training of Women Workers for Children’s Institutions’ (Grants to Orphanages, 07/05/1942 – Unit 99, file no. 977, 1941-1942?)
• Letters from the Inspector of Charities to various institutions regarding cases of individual children (various).

Finding Aids

For a list of units in this series containing records relating to children’s institutions, see this List of files regarding Children’s Homes..