The Pirra Girls’ Home was established in 1961 by the Social Welfare Branch at Lara, near Geelong. It accommodated girls who were otherwise ‘unplaceable’ within the Victorian system. It had a capacity for around 27 girls aged from 11 and 15. In later years, it housed girls from 3 to 18. Pirra was closed by…
The Children’s Court Act 1956 (No. 6053) resulted from new thinking in regard to the problem of ‘juvenile delinquency’, and made some important changes to sentencing and to the numbers of offenders who also became wards. It commenced on 1 January 1957, and repealed the Children’s Court Act 1928 (No.3653). The Children’s Court Act 1958…
The Children and Young Persons Act 1989 (No. 56/1989) was implemented in stages up to 1992 and clearly separated services for children in need of protection from services for young offenders. The Act hastened the process of deinstitutionalisation in juvenile justice, and led to the closure of the few surviving ‘children’s homes’ in Victoria. It…
Langi Kal Kal was established by the Victorian state government in 1951. Located at Trawalla, near Beaufort, it was initially a prison for adult offenders, but it also received people under 17 years of age. Langi Kal Kal became a ‘training centre’ in 1958. In 1965, Langi Kal Kal became a Youth Training Centre specifically…
The Malmsbury Youth Training Centre was established by the state government in 1965. In 2018, it was known as the Malmsbury Youth Justice Precinct. Malmsbury is primarily for males aged 18 to 20 serving a Youth Justice Centre order. Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre closed in December 2023. During the mid 1970s the dormitory style accommodation…
The St Vincent de Paul Girls’ Orphanage opened in 1874 and was run by the Sisters of Mercy. The Orphanage was created following the split of the St Vincent de Paul Orphanage into a boys’ and a girls’ orphanage. It housed girls aged between 5 and 15. In 1962, the name changed to St Vincent…
The Children’s Welfare Act 1928 (No. 3654) was ‘An Act to consolidate the Law relating to Children’s Welfare and to the Protection of Infant Life’. It commenced on 18 December 1929 and consolidated and replaced all Victorian legislation relating to child welfare and infant life protection since 1864. In the 1920s, there was a growing…
The Children’s Welfare Act 1933 (No.4152) amended sections 18 and 109 of the Children’s Welfare Act 1928. It extended the definitions of neglect in the 1928 Act. The 1933 legislation contained new categories of ‘neglected child’, including ‘being a female found soliciting men for prostitution…or found habitually wandering about…public places at night without lawful cause…’….
Winlaton, in Nunawading, was established in 1956 as Victoria’s main state-run institution for adolescent girls. Previously (from 1951 to 1953) the building was a Home, also called Winlaton, run by the Mission of St James and St John. Winlaton Juvenile School received its first placements in 1956. Many female juvenile offenders were committed to Winlaton…
Stolen Generations Victoria Ltd was formed on17 June 2005 to support and address the needs of people affected by practices and policies of removing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from family, community, country and culture. Stolen Generations Vic Ltd was defunded in February 2010 and the service at Wurruk Avenue in Preston closed its…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
