Padua Hall was established by the Franciscan Friars in Kew in 1945. It provided a 'halfway house' for former residents of the Morning Star Youth Training Centre at Mt Eliza, and also Catholic 'youths' who were wards of state with indeterminate sentences. Padua Hall closed in 1960.
Padua Hall was an institution in Kew run by the Franciscan Friars from 1945 to 1960. According to 'A piece of the story' (1999), it provided a 'halfway house between the Morning Star Youth Training Centre at Mt Eliza and complete rehabilitation for Catholic youths who, under the then Victorian legislation, had been committed by the courts to the Centre as Wards of State with indeterminate sentences'.
Padua Hall became financially non-viable with the passage of the Children's Welfare Act 1954, which made all sentences for children determinate. Padua Hall closed on 30 September 1960.
Sources used to compile this entry: 'A Piece of the Story': National Directory of Records of Catholic organisations caring for children separated from their families, Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission & Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes, November 1999, https://cssa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/A-Piece-of-the-Story.pdf.
Prepared by: Cate O'Neill
Created: 26 November 2009, Last modified: 5 November 2018
Last updated: 18 January 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E000524b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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