State of Tasmania
The Chief Secretary's Department and Premier's Office took over from the Chief Secretary's Department in 1914. Like its predecessor, it coordinated the administrative business of the Tasmanian government. In 1955, it became the Premier's and Chief Secretary's Office.
The Under-Secretary was in charge of the Chief Secretary's Department.
Between 1898 and 1911, the Neglected Children's Department and the Charitable Grants Departments were sub-departments within the Chief Secretary's Department. In 1911-12, the Under-Secretary took direct control of the two sub-departments. This meant that between 1914 and 1918, the Under-Secretary ran the Neglected Children's Department. With the assistance of clerks, he decided on state wards' placements, negotiated with their parents, foster parents, and employers, and wrote to the children personally. When the Neglected Children's Department became the Children of the State Department in 1918, it remained in the Chief Secretary's Department and Premier's Office but with its own Secretary. In 1923-4, Charitable Grants became a Department in its own right. It contained the Children of the State Department.
The close relationship between the Chief Secretary's Department and Premier's Office, the Neglected Children's Department, and the Charitable Grants Department means that there is considerable information about the last two in the records of the Chief Secretary's Department.
1882 - 1901 Chief Secretary's Department
1901 - 1914 Chief Secretary's Department
1914 - 1955 Chief Secretary's Department and Premier's Office
1955 - 1976 Premier's and Chief Secretary's Department
1976 - 1985 Premier's Department
1985 - Department of Premier and Cabinet
Sources used to compile this entry: Evans, Caroline, Protecting the Innocent: Tasmania's Neglected Children, Their Parents and State Care, 1890-1918, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1999, 251 pp, http://eprints.utas.edu.au/14453/; Wettenhall, RL, A Guide to Tasmanian Government Administration, Platypus Publications, Hobart, 1968, 206 pp.
Prepared by: Caroline Evans
Created: 19 November 2013, Last modified: 20 May 2014