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Bakhita Village

Bakhita Village was opened in the Darwin suburb of Coconut Grove in January 1972 by the Canossian Daughters of Charity, a Catholic order from Italy. It was a small complex of five family-style homes that provided long and short term residential care for children. Bakhita Village was open for just short of three years before…

Trower Road Cottage, Somerville Homes Inc

Trower Road Cottage opened in Rapid Creek in 1969. Run by Somerville Homes Incorporated it was one of six cottages which made up Somerville Cottage Homes. It accommodated up to eight children aged between 4 and 16 years under the supervision of cottage parents. Children from Croker Island were the first residents of the cottage….

Children’s Cottage Home

The Children’s Cottage Home was established by Sister Kate Clutterbuck in 1933 in Buckland Hill. In that year it housed ten children from the Moore River Native Settlement (1918 – 1951). By August 1934, a new Children’s Cottage Home was opened at Queen’s Park and within a year the children and staff had moved there….

Wattle Grove Baptist Cottage

Wattle Grove Baptist Cottage was run by members of the Wattle Grove Baptist Church during 1958 and 1959. The Child Welfare Department intended to place 12 ‘specially selected’ girls in the Home, and three girls were housed there by March 1959. It is likely that the department did not place any girls there after 1963….

Elizabeth Downs Cottage

Elizabeth Downs Cottage was opened by the Adelaide Central Methodist Mission at Elizabeth Downs in 1976. In the mid to late 1970s, as a response to the government’s push to close large congregate care institutions and replace them with smaller group care, the Methodist Church closed Lentara and established a number of Cottage Homes in…

Christina Campbell Farm Home

Christina Campbell Farm Home was opened as part of the Burnside Presbyterian Orphan Homes in March 1941 at North Parramatta. It operated until 1952.

Gordon Homes for Boys

The Gordon Homes for Boys opened in Highett in 1951. Formerly, services had been provided at the Gordon Institute in Melbourne. The Homes accommodated boys aged between 5 and 14 in cottage homes. In 1969, the Home became the Gordon Homes for Boys and Girls. The Gordon Homes for Boys were located on the Nepean…

St John’s Homes for Boys and Girls – Canterbury

St John’s Homes for Boys and Girls came into 1958. Previously, it had been called St John’s Home for Boys. The name change reflected a decision by the Board of Management in 1956 that St John’s was to move towards a cottage system of accommodation and could start to receive both boys and girls. The…

Orana, the Peace Memorial Homes for Children

Orana, the Peace Memorial Homes for Children, were established in 1953 in Burwood. They were previously the Methodist Homes for Children in Cheltenham. Orana Homes offered residential-style accommodation in units with ‘cottage parents’. In 1988 it became Orana Family Services. Orana, the Peace Memorial Homes for Children, were established in 1953 in Burwood. Formerly, dormitory-style…

Marymead Child and Family Centre

Marymead Child and Family Centre was established in 1967 in Narrabundah. It was run by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, until the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn took over responsibility in 1986. In 2018, Marymead continues to provide residential care for girls and boys aged 5 to 17, as well as foster care and…