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Registrar-General’s Department, State of Tasmania

The Registrar-General’s Department replaced the General Registry Department in 1959. It continued to administer the Adoption of Children Act 1920 until 1961 when the Child Welfare Division of the Social Welfare Department took over responsibility for it.

General Registry Department, State of Tasmania

The General Registry Department replaced the Statistical and General Registry Department in 1924, following the Commonwealth government’s takeover of the of the state statistical service. In 1930, the Department temporarily became a branch again because of funding problems. It resumed departmental status in 1934. The Department continued to administer the Adoption of Children Act 1920.

Statistical and General Registry Department, State of Tasmania

The Statistical and General Registry Department superseded the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in 1882. The Department was divided into statistical and registration branches. In 1919, the government appointed a Government Statistician and a Registrar-General both working in the same Department. The Department administered the Adoption of Children Act 1920.

Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages

The Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages was established in 1838. It was located in the Attorney-General’s Department. 1882, it became the Statistical and General Registry Department. An Act For Registering Births, Deaths And Marriages In The Island Of Van Diemen’s Land And Its Dependencies established the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages to cope…

Millbrook Rise Psychopathic Hospital

Millbrook Rise Hospital opened in New Norfolk in 1933. It was a public psychiatric hospital which took some adolescent patients. In 1968, Millbrook Rise merged with Lachlan Park Hospital to form the Royal Derwent Hospital. Millbrook Rise officially opened on 21 February 1934 (Willow Court Tasmania website). Initially, the main purpose of Millbrook Rise Hospital…

Abermere Family Group Home

Abermere Family Group Home, run by the government, replaced Abermere Receiving Home in about 1981. It was in Mount Stuart. The Home provided temporary accommodation to children who were wards of state or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department and its successors. Abermere closed around 2000. The Home provided accommodation for new…

Hospital for the Insane, New Norfolk

The Hospital for the Insane replaced the Lunatic Asylum in 1859. It remained on the same site. In 1937, the Mental Diseases Hospital replaced it. The Gentleman’s Cottage, which in 1941, became an institution for men and boys with intellectual disabilities, was built in 1859. The Ladies Cottage, which later became ‘J’ Ward, opened in…

Lunatic Asylum, New Norfolk

The Lunatic Asylum, New Norfolk began in 1827 as the Invalid Barracks for convicts. A good proportion of the invalids were classified as ‘lunatics’ and as the hospital became more crowded, it increasingly specialised in ‘caring’ for people with this diagnosis. Over time it catered for all kinds of people, rather than just convicts. The…

Glenara Training Services

Glenara Training Services superseded Glenara Children’s Homes in 1984. It resulted from an agreement between the Board of Glenara and the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations to set up a Work Preparation Program for young people. Glenara Training Services closed in the mid 1990s.The Board sold the property to Southern Cross Care (Tasmania) in…

Northern Tasmanian Home for Boys Archival Collection, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

The Northern Tasmanian Home for Boys Collection, which is held by the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, contains a wide range of records including annual reports, correspondence concerning children, Superintendents’ reports and diaries, lists of children at the Home, reports about boys who had left the home, applications from families to take children for…