From 1959 to the 1990s Melbourne Family Care, its predecessor Melbourne Orphanage, and its successor Family Action, ran a number of Family Group Homes across the outer suburbs of Melbourne. The first family group homes were established in 1959 as institutionalised care was phased out. By 1963, 14 family group homes had been established. By…
The Salvation Army Australia came into being in 2018 – the Australia Territory Board of Governance held its first meeting in September 2018. Previously, the Salvation Army structure had comprised the Southern and Eastern Territories. In 2022, the Salvation Army (also known as The Salvos) continues to provide a range of community services in Australia,…
From the mid 1950s the State Government of Victoria, via its various departments governing child welfare, operated a large number of family group homes under its Family Group Home Program. These Family Group Homes were located in inner and outer suburban Melbourne as well as in more regional locations across the state. The opening and…
The Salvation Army, Australian Territory was established in 1880 when the first members of the church came to Australia. From 1880 until 1907, the Salvation Army Australasian Territory comprised the church’s operations in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. In 1907, the Australian Territory was separated from New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. In 1921, the…
Moreland Hall was a reformatory and female rescue home for young women and girls operated by the Wesley Central Mission from 1936 to 1946. It was a continuation of The South Yarra Home, with residents and staff being transferred to Moreland on the closure of The South Yarra Home in 1936. Residents at Moreland Hall…
Infant Life Protection was a program that emerged in response to rising concerns about ‘baby farming’ in the late nineteenth century – this was the practice of infants, usually born to single mothers, being placed in private homes to be nursed and boarded, for a fee. There was a very high mortality rate for ex-nuptial…
Adoption Information Services came into being in July 2019 when the delivery of local adoptions, inter-country adoptions and information about past adoptions were transferred from the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Justice and Community Safety. Previously, the Victorian government adoption information service was called Family Information, Networks and Discovery…
The Clifden Farm and Try Boys Home was a farm training Home for boys at Wedderburn opened by The Try Society in 1923. It had previously been the privately run Clifden Children’s Home. The home had capacity for approximately 25 boys. In 1929 the Clifden Home moved to St. Andrew’s (also referred to as Diamond…
Clifden Children’s Home was a privately-run Home for “destitute children” and Convalescent Home opened in 1891 in Smythesdale, moving to Wedderburn in 1894. The Home aimed to provide farm training for homeless and “neglected” children of Melbourne. From the early 1900s a number of state wards were placed in the Home. In 1923 the Home…
The Heidelberg Girls’ Home was a Salvation Army Home for younger girls opened in 1896, on the premises of the former Heidelberg Boys’ Home. The first girls in residence in the Heidelberg Girls’ Home were the younger residents of the Brunswick Girls Home. The Home closed in November 1899 and the girls were moved to…