The Girls’ Friendly Society (GFS) was established in Victoria in 1883. The movement was originally established in England in the 1870s. It had strong links to the Church of England. In Melbourne, the GFS provided accommodation and services to immigrants and female travellers. According to O’Hanlon, the Girls’ Friendly Society ‘operated a system whereby unchaperoned…
The Training Home for Girls was established in around 1880, as an institution where young women received training to become domestic servants. Originally, it was known as the Servants’ Training Institute. The Training Home for Girls was located in Berry Street, East Melbourne (Jolimont). It was run by a committee of management with links to…
The Seventh Day Adventist Welfare Organisation was an arm of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, established in Victoria in 1886. The Seventh Day Adventist Welfare Organisation was one of the 22 private adoption agencies approved by the Adoption Act 1964. There are records relating to adoptions organised by the organisation in the collection of the…
Foster Care Westernport was established in 1979. As well as providing foster care, it provided respite care for children with disabilities through the Westernport Interchange program. The agency had a separate foster care program for adolescents. In 1991, Foster Care Westernport merged with the Victorian Children’s Aid Society to form the new organisation, Family Focus….
The Citizens Welfare Service of Victoria came into being in 1947. Previously it was known as the Charity Organisation Society of Melbourne. The name change coincided with a change in focus towards casework and counselling, employing only professionally trained social workers and expanding its ‘client group’ into Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs. The CWS ran…
Uniting – Connections came into being in July 2017. Previously the organisation was called Connections UnitingCare. It was a community service organisation that was part of Uniting (Victoria and Tasmania) Limited. Uniting – Connections had an adoptions and permanent care program, and provided a range of services for children, young people and families. Its predecessor…
The Royal Melbourne Hospital Archives collects records relating to the Royal Melbourne Hospital (Melbourne Hospital prior to 1935), Melbourne Health, NorthWestern Mental Health and the Royal Melbourne Hospital – Royal Park Campus (the former Mount Royal Hospital). It also holds some records of the predecessor institutions to the RMH Royal Park Campus, including the Immigrants’…
Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand was established in 2008 as the formal framework for the mission of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. In 2014, Good Shepherd Youth & Family Service (Victoria) and Rosemount Good Shepherd Youth and Family Service (based in New South Wales) merged with Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand to become one…
The Commission for Children and Young People was formed in March 2013 to replace The Office of the Child Safety Commissioner.
The Uniting Church Archives (Victoria) collects the records of the Uniting Church post 1977, and its constituent churches prior to 1977 (Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches). The archives were established at the formation of the Uniting Church in Australia to be a central repository for the historical records of the Synod, presbyteries and parishes of…
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