The Department of Health, also known as the Health Department of Victoria, was established in 1985. It replaced the Health Commission of Victoria, and assumed its responsibilities for the management of public health providers in Victoria, including hospitals. In 1987 the Office of Psychiatric Services was added to the Department of Health, which was responsible…
The Lunacy Department was established in 1905 as a department of the Victorian State Government, and part of the Chief Secretary’s Department. It replaced the Hospitals for the Insane Branch of the Chief Secretary’s Department. The Lunacy Department was responsible for the treatment of people deemed to have mental illness or intellectual disability. It had…
The Health Commission of Victoria was established in 1978 by the Health Commission Act 1977. It took on the responsibilities previously administered by the Mental Health Authority, Department of Health, Commission of Public Health, and the Hospitals and Charities Commission. The Health Commission had three divisions: the Public Health Division, the Hospitals Division, and the…
The Melbourne Jewish Orphan and Neglected Children’s Aid Society was established in 1882. Its objects were to provide for destitute orphan or neglected Jewish children until they turned 16 and to find employment or promote the future welfare of children in its care. In the annual report for 1883, the secretary of the Department of…
The Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support was created following an election in November 2024, where the Department of Youth Justice was renamed. The Department runs youth detention centres in Queensland, and authorises the Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety to provide access to youth justice records through its Right to…
The Immigrants’ Aid Society came into being in May 1853. A non-government organisation, its initial purpose was to provide relief and information only to new arrivals to the colony of Victoria, though its activities quickly expanded beyond providing aid to poor immigrants. Before the colonial government passed the Neglected and Criminal Children’s Act in 1864…
The Kindergarten Training College was established in 1922. Previously, kindergarten teachers were trained by the Free Kindergarten Union, established in 1908. In 1964, the Kindergarten Teachers College became a separate entity from the Free Kindergarten Union. In 1973 it became the Institute of Early Childhood Development. Graduates of the Melbourne Kindergarten Teachers College ran two holiday…
Meli is an organisation created in April 2023, following a merger of Bethany and Barwon Child Youth & Family (BCYF). Meli’s office in Hamlyn Heights (Geelong) is on the former site of the Geelong Female Refuge, established in 1868, and Bethany Babies’ Home (1928-1977). BCYF’s originated with the Geelong Orphan Asylum (established 1854), later known…
The Canossian Daughters of Charity is a Catholic order founded in Italy in 1808. They first came to Australian in 1949, and arrived in Darwin in 1970 with the purpose of establishing a residential children’s home – Bakhita Village. They ran the children’s home from 1972 until late December 1974, when it was destroyed by…
The Northcote Trust was established in 1936 following a bequest in the will of Lady Alice Northcote, wife of Lord Henry Northcote, third Governor-General of Australia, to assist “poor children of British birth of either sex, and particularly orphans, to migrate from any part of Great Britain…” (Melbourne Leader, 30 March 1935). The bequest was…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
