The Victorian Children’s Welfare Department began its Family Group Home Program in 1956. At first, each of the Department’s group homes accommodated eight children, under the care of a cottage mother (and often a cottage father too). By 1974 there were 40 Departmental homes housing 209 children in the inner and outer suburbs of Melbourne…
The Lady Dugan Children’s Home was established by the Social Welfare Department in 1970. It mostly housed children aged between two and five years, and their school age siblings. It had capacity for 34 children. The Home ceased to operate in April 1976, and its residents were transferred into family group homes and other placements….
The Illoura Children’s Home, in Balwyn, Social Welfare Department was established in 1964. It housed up to 36 children including; boys from 5 to 9 years of age and girls from 5 to 15 years of age, many in sibling groups. From the 1970s it housed fewer children in residential units. Illoura closed in 1984….
Sutton Grange in Mornington was established by the Victorian Government in 1957. The Home accommodated wards of the state in sibling groups. By 1962 it accommodated 30 children: girls from 4 to 17 and boys from 4 to 8 years of age. The children attended local schools. Sutton Grange was closed in September 1977. The…
The Ballarat Industrial School was a state-run institution, which opened in August 1869. The institution housed 215 girls in 1872. In 1879, the Industrial School closed, and became a reformatory for boys. The Ballarat Industrial School was the only institution in Victoria mentioned in the 1872 report by the Royal Commission on Penal and Prison…
The Nelson was a hulk [ship] anchored off Williamstown, Hobson Bay. From 1868, it housed boys aged ten who had been sentenced under the Neglected and Criminal Children’s Act of 1864. By 1872, the vessel housed 383 boys. It was abandoned in 1876 when the boys were transferred to the Bendigo Benevolent Asylum Industrial School,…
The Sunbury Industrial School was established in 1865. It was located on Jacksons Hill, in Sunbury. On its closure, in around 1880, boys from Sunbury were transferred to the Royal Park Industrial School in Parkville. The Sunbury Industrial School was the first purpose-built institution created by the government in 1865 in response to the Neglected…
The Government Reformatory for Girls in Coburg was established in 1875. The first reformatory for girls in the colony of Victoria was at Sunbury, established in 1865. The new premises in Coburg were “in immediate contiguity” to Pentridge Prison, in what was later known as G Division. The girls’ reformatory operated there from 1875 until…
In 1873 the Boys’ Reformatory run by the Victorian government moved from the reformatories on board the Sir Harry Smith and the Deborah. The new institution at Coburg was known as the Jika Reformatory for Boys. It was located within the grounds of Pentridge prison. The Royal Commission on Penal and Prison Discipline had stated in…
The Royal Park Depot in Parkville was the sole reception centre for children committed to State care in Victoria from about 1880 to 1961. The Depot was a ‘clearing house’ for boys and girls, before they were boarded out, sent out to service or committed to a reformatory school. In 1955 it became Turana. The…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
