Caretakers Cottage was established by the Paddington Woollahra Youth Service (PWYS) in 1977. It was first located in a cottage on Gordon Street, Paddington provided by the Uniting Church, and later moved into the Manse on Regent Street. In 1990, the refuge – still called Caretakers Cottage – moved to Albion St, Surry Hills. In…
The Ministering Children’s League was a British organisation founded in 1884, with branches operating globally and across Australia. The League conducted charitable work, such as supporting, fundraising for, and running various institutions such as hospitals, respite/convalescent homes, and children’s homes. The League was non-sectarian and included adult and child members. It operated with the objective…
The Housing and Community Services Bureau was established on 14 December 1989. The aim of the Bureau was to provide and facilitate the delivery of housing and community services to individuals, facilities and the community. The Bureau operated under various administrative structures, but in 1995, the Housing and Community Services Bureau’s functions were separated. Some…
The Department of Human Services was created in 2018 when the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion was renamed. The Department of Human Services has responsibilities for youth justice, disability services and child safety.
The Sisters of Mercy, Geelong Congregation, a Catholic religious order of women from Ireland, was established in 1859. The Sisters provided care for girls at St Augustine’s Boys’ Orphanage before opening Our Lady’s Orphanage and St Joseph’s Industrial School for girls. In 1907 the Sisters of Mercy started to consolidate the number of congregations across…
The Rutherglen Viticultural College, Chiltern Valley Road, Rutherglen, from 1904 accepted wards of the state deemed to be suitable for viticultural and general farm work as trainees. The Department for Neglected Children and Reformatory Schools and the Agricultural Department struck an agreement to facilitate this placement. The arrangement appears to have ceased by 1927. The…
The Friendly Brothers Society (1845-c.1880) was a lay Catholic association which played a leading role in providing for vulnerable children in Melbourne and Geelong. During the 1840s and 1850s members of the society arranged private boarding placements for children in need. From the late 1850s Catholic orphanages emerged as the Church’s preferred means of providing…
St Paul’s Discovery Centre was established in 1979 by the Reverend Ian Paxton of the Mission of St James and St John. It was located on the site of the former St Paul’s Home for Boys at Newhaven, Phillip Island. St Paul’s operated as holiday camp for ‘disadvantaged’ children. St Paul’s Discovery Centre opened in…
The Burwood Children’s Home was established in 1972. Previously known as the Burwood Boys’ Home, it changed its name when it began to accept girls from the early 1970s. The last child left the Home in 1986. It was around this time that the Home became the Child and Family Care Network. The Burwood Children’s…
The Child and Family Care Network came into being around 1986. It was known previously as the Burwood Children’s Home. The Network offered child and family welfare and educational programs. In 1996, it shifted its focus to children’s services and early intervention. In 2006, it changed its name to bestchance Child Family Care. The Child…
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