Hobart Women's Shelter, run by a feminist collective, opened in about 1972. It provided temporary accommodation for women and their children escaping from domestic violence. The workers also advised homeless young women under 18 but it is not clear whether they gave them accommodation. In 2013, the Shelter is still operating.
Prior to the establishment of Annie Kenney Young Women's Refuge, Hobart Women's Shelter advised young women under 18. For instance, in 1977, they attempted to visit a young woman at Risdon Prison who had previously been to them for help. It is not clear whether they provided these women with temporary accommodation.
It was contact with young women under 18 that led the workers at the Shelter and other feminists to establish Annie Kenney Young Women's Refuge. Between 1978 and 1981, it was an annex of the Women's Shelter.
In 1979, the Shelter ran a crisis centre, two houses, four flats, and a child care facility. It had five full time workers. In the previous year it had accommodated 139 women and 202 women. They stayed for an average of three weeks.
In 2018, the Shelter provides up to six weeks accommodation for women leaving violent relationships as well as advocacy and support for them and their children.
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Women say jail visit refused', 11 August 1977, p. 8; Department of Social Welfare: report for the year ended 30 June 1979, Department of Social Welfare, Hobart, 1979; Department of Social Welfare: report for the year ended 1981, Department of Social Welfare, Hobart, 1981; Collins, Anne and Dunsford, Jane, House full of women: the story of Annie Kenney Young Women's Refuge 1978-1983, The Refuge, Hobart, 1990, 219 pp.
Prepared by: Caroline Evans
Created: 26 November 2012, Last modified: 23 October 2018
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/tas/biogs/TE00566b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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