Archives



Retarded Children’s Welfare Association

The Retarded Children’s Welfare Association (RCWA) was established in Hobart in 1952 to raise funds for better premises for Talire, a volunteer run school for children with intellectual disabilities. The Association also aimed to set up more schools for children with intellectual disabilities and hostels to enable country children to attend them. The RCWA became…

Lying-in Home, Cascades

The Lying-in Home for single mothers opened on the site of the former Female Factory at Cascades in 1888. The government ran it assisted by a voluntary women’s visiting committee. In 1895, the committee of the Home of Mercy briefly took over the management of the Lying-in Home. That same year, it moved to the…

Female Factory, Cascades

The Female Factory at Cascades opened in 1827. It was run by the Convict Department. As a place of secondary punishment for convict women, it housed the babies that they gave birth to there. The Factory closed in 1853. The Female Factory opened in Lowes Distillery, which had been converted for that purpose. Many of…

Contagious Diseases Act 1882, Tasmania

The Contagious Diseases Act 1882 also known by the full title ‘An Act to Further Amend “The Contagious Diseases Act 1879″‘ (Act no. 46 Vict. No.41) was a minor amendment to the previous contagious diseases legislation. Contagious diseases was a ‘polite’ word for sexually transmitted diseases, especially syphilis.

Contagious Diseases Act 1879, Tasmania

The Contagious Diseases Act 1879 also known by its full title ‘An Act for the better Prevention of certain Contagious Diseases’ (Act No. 42 Vict. No.36) was the first in a series of Acts designed to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, especially syphilis. It gave the police powers to report cases of it in women to…

Tasmanian Archives

Tasmanian Archives, previously the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO), and the Archives Office of Tasmania, was created in 2011 following amalgamation with the Heritage Collections at the State Library of Tasmania. Tasmanian Archives operates under the Archives Act 1983. Its collection includes the records of all government departments and agencies involved in the welfare…

Abermere Receiving Home

Abermere Receiving Home, run by the government, opened in Mount Stuart in 1975. It provided temporary accommodation to children who were wards of state or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department. In the early 1980s, Abermere Receiving Home became Abermere Family Group Home. A married woman, known as a Receiving Home Keeper,…

Home of Mercy

The Home of Mercy, run by the Anglican Church, opened in 1890. It was a rescue and maternity home for single mothers, some of whose babies were adopted from the Home. After a number of sites, the Home moved to New Town in 1905 where there was a small babies’ and children’s Home attached. The…

Child Protection Board

The Child Protection Board succeeded the Child Protection Assessment Board in 1991. It was more concerned with policy, community and professional education than the old Board had been. Following the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act (1997) the government abolished the Child Protection Board in 1998. The new name reflected the changed role for…

Child Protection Assessment Board

The Child Protection Assessment Board was established by the Child Protection Act of 1974. It was a statutory body which had responsibility for protecting children who were treated cruelly or at risk of it. The Board was a multi-disciplinary team made up of five members including a legal practitioner who was in the chair, a…