Swinburne House was opened by the Victorian Children's Aid Society around 1968 in Black Rock. The Victorian Children's Aid Society Home had previously been located in Parkville, at a property they sold in 1966. In 1968, Swinburne House accommodated 34 children, aged between 3 and 18 years and was also the headquarters of the Society. By the mid-1970s congregate care of children was being phased out. Swinburne House continued as a base for the Society's child and family care program and as a back-up placement option for the Society's foster care program. Swinburne House was sold in 1985.
The Victorian Children's Aid Society purchased Somers House in Black Rock around 1966. Previously, the organisation had been based in Leonard Street, Parkville at the Victorian Children's Aid Society Home.
The Home was named Swinburne House, after a Mrs Swinburne who had been President of the Victorian Children's Aid Society from 1913 to 1957 (Golding, 2017).
In the 1970s, the Victorian Children's Aid Society began to expand its operations in family group homes in the bayside area.
As the Society transitioned from institutional care to foster care and family group homes, Swinburne House continued as the base of its child and family care programs, and as a back-up placement option for the Society's foster care program.
Swinburne House was sold in 1985.
1901 - c. 1966 Victorian Children's Aid Society Home
c. 1968 - 1985 Swinburne House
Prepared by: Nicola Laurent
Created: 1 June 2023
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/ENT0210b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License