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Northam Group Home

The Northam Group Home was established in 1980, providing government-run emergency and short-term accommodation for up to eight Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children from babies to young teenagers, with some long-term admissions. In 2002, the Northam Group Home closed due to staff shortages, but it was open in 2004, possibly closing permanently in 2005. Government reports…

Ngal-a Mothercraft Home and Training Centre Inc

The Ngal-a Mothercraft Home and Training Centre Inc (Ngala) was the new name given in 1956 to The Alexandra Home for Mothers and Babies (Inc) and Mothercraft Training School, in Highgate. In 1959 Ngala moved to Kensington. Ngala had three functions: a maternity home for mothers and babies; from 1959, the ‘reception centre’ for all…

Maria Goretti Home

The Maria Goretti Home opened in 1968 on the site of the former Holy Child Orphanage in Broome. It was run by the Catholic Diocese of Broome as a residential nursery and kindergarten for up to 12 Aboriginal babies and children, especially those born at the Derby Leprosarium. Many of the children would have been…

Mothercraft Home

The Mothercraft Home opened in New Town in 1925. The Child Welfare Association ran it until 1947 when the government took it over. Its main purpose was to give breast feeding advice to mothers but it also provided accommodation for children. In 1982, the Home moved to South Hobart. It closed around 1988. The Mothercraft…

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…

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…

Glen Dhu Babies’ Home

Glen Dhu Babies’ Home, run by the Children’s Protection Society, opened in about 1907. It accommodated the babies of single mothers. The Home closed in 1911. Glen Dhu had a high infant mortality rate with 19 babies dying there in 1909. At the inquest of one of them, the Medical Superintendent of Launceston General Hospital…

Anchorage Home

The Anchorage Home, run by the Ladies Christian Association, opened in 1889. It was initially in Hobart. Later it moved to New Town. The Home was for young single mothers having their first baby. It closed in 1920. The Anchorage Home opened on 17 September 1889 in Carr Street, off Argyle Street. The house had…

Queen’s Home

The Queen’s Home at Rose Park opened in 1902. Run by a committee of management it provided maternity services for mothers and trained nurses in maternity work. From 1912 to 1914 a Babies Ward operated at the Home for babies under one year old. Many women residing at Kate Cocks Memorial Babies’ Home had their…

Northcote Home

Northcote Home was established in 1928 in Grange as a rest home for mothers and new born babies. It also accommodated pregnant women, convalescent mothers, and infants requiring specialist care. From 1941 the Home became a Tuberculosis Preventorium, taking in children whose parents had tuberculosis to prevent them from contracting the disease. The Home later…