Glenara Children's Home

Glenara Children’s Home replaced the Northern Tasmanian Home for Boys in 1973. It provided accommodation, some of it in cottages, for girls and boys, a number of whom were wards of state. Glenara closed in 1982.

By the 1970s, policy makers were increasingly opposed to institutional care for children. In line with this thinking, the Board built two cottages on the grounds of Glenara so that families of girls and boys could be kept together. It meant that they could be raised by cottage parents in an environment more closely resembling family life. The first girl entered the Home in 1974. The name change reflected the new policy of accepting boys and girls.

In March 1978, fire damaged one of the dormitories. This meant that a building project already underway had to be finished more quickly. Funds from a Mayor’s Appeal enabled a new dormitory to be opened in September 1978.

Although there were 50 children living at the Home in 1978, by 1982 there were only 19. This was because the Department of Community Welfare now had a policy keeping children with their own parents as far as possible. Overall the numbers of state wards had dropped. Since the Department paid board for them, this caused a loss of income at Glenara. Coupled with higher wages for carers, this led the Home to close in 1982. Two years later, the Board launched Glenara Training Services.

National Redress Scheme for people who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse

In 2021, the Tasmanian government has agreed to be a funder of last resort for this institution. This means that although the institution is now defunct, it is participating in the National Redress Scheme, and the government has agreed to pay the institution’s share of costs of providing redress to a person (as long as the government is found to be equally responsible for the abuse a person experienced).