The Aborigines Act of 1890 (Act no.1059) was ‘An Act to consolidate the Laws relating to the Aboriginal Natives of Victoria.’ It extended the powers of the Governor to separate Aboriginal children from their families. The Act commenced on 1 August 1890 and was repealed by the Aborigines Act 1915 on 1 October 1915. In…
The Public Health Amendment Statute 1883, No. 782, also referred to as the Public Health Amendment Act, made local boards responsible for overseeing the registration of children placed in the homes of people other than their families. This was Victoria’s first attempt to legally regulate the practice referred to as baby-farming. In the mid-nineteenth century…
The Neglected and Criminal Children’s Amendment Act 1874 amended the Neglected and Criminal Children’s Act of 1864. The main change was its introduction of the practice of boarding-out to Victoria’s child welfare system. Boarding-out was introduced into the Victorian child welfare system as a solution to the overcrowding and poor health within the colony’s industrial…
The Southport Youth Support Service was established by Melbourne City Mission in 1987, to support young people in the areas of South Melbourne and Port Melbourne. The service was set up to work collaboratively with local government, other services and local businesses to respond to a wide range of issues for young people including education,…
Community Integration and Accommodation Options (CIAO) was set up in 1991 by Melbourne City Mission. CIAO provides accommodation and support services to young people on statutory orders who are exiting residential services in the North and Western suburbs. The young people are aged between 15 and 18 years old and are often dealing with complex…
Centacare Catholic Family Services was formerly known as the Catholic Social Service Bureau. The name change, to reflect the organisation’s ‘commitment to families’ was announced by Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne George Pell in December 1998. The Department of Human Services funds Centacare’s Adoption and Permanent Care Service, which incorporates an information service about previous adoptions.
Hartnett House was established in around 1955 when Melbourne City Mission amalgamated its Maternity Home and its Toddlers’ Home on Albion Street, Brunswick. The new institution was named Hartnett House in 1958. In 1973 Hartnett House stopped operating as a maternity home and ceased its adoption operations but continued as a children’s home. In 1982…
The Our Lady of Sion Orphanage was established in 1913. It was run by the Sisters of Sion and situated in the town of Sale on the grounds of a college for girls. It generally accommodated girls aged from 4 to 15 years. It ceased to operate in 1947. The Orphanage was run by the…
The Sisters of Sion first provided educational services in Victoria in 1890, in Gippsland. (In 1887, the first Catholic Bishop of Sale, Bishop Corbett, had travelled to Europe and returned with seven Sisters of Notre Dame and five priests.) The Sisters ran parish schools and boarding schools in towns including Sale, Bairnsdale and Warragul. The…
Padua Hall was established by the Franciscan Friars in Kew in 1945. It provided a ‘halfway house’ for former residents of the Morning Star Youth Training Centre at Mt Eliza, and also Catholic ‘youths’ who were wards of state with indeterminate sentences. Padua Hall closed in 1960. Padua Hall was an institution in Kew run…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
