Hostel is an overall term used to describe a variety of accommodation for young people. In Tasmania, a hostel could be used to accommodate young people in transition from a Home to paid employment, children with disabilities, and children temporarily placed in a Home under the Domestic Service Assistance Scheme.
Young people in transition from a Home to paid employment were usually about 15 years old. The establishment of hostels for them was partly in response to concerns that they would be 'led astray'. These hostels had become old-fashioned and unpopular with young people by the mid 1970s and gradually closed.
Another type of hostel provided accommodation for children with disabilities, usually from the country, so that they could attend a special school. Assimilation of the children into ordinary schools led to the closure of these hostels.
Finally, a hostel could be used to provide accommodation for children 'cared' for by the government under the Domestic Service Assistance Scheme. Under this scheme, parents dealing with a family crisis such as the hospitalisation of the mother could apply for the government to take temporary care for their children if there was nowhere else for them to go.
Prepared by: Caroline Evans
Created: 15 November 2011, Last modified: 5 March 2015