The Antonian Institute for Children, Richmond, was established in 1959 to cater for children from families of Italian origin, including state wards. The Home’s name was changed to the Antonian Children’s Home in 1966. The Antonian Institute for Children was established at 311 Church Street, Richmond in 1959. In January 1960, the Antonian Institute for…
The Ashendene Boys’ Home in Falls Road, Olinda, opened in December 1966. It was established to accommodate boys aged from 10 to 15 years, and from 1977 housed mostly older teenage boys requiring longer term accommodation. Ashendene was relocated to new premises in Croydon in 1988. The Victorian Government purchased the large former private home…
Baltara Reception Centre was established by the Victorian Government in 1968. It was a separate entity from Turana, which was located on the same campus. Baltara was a specialised reception facility for boys aged 10 to 15 as well as a remand centre for boys in the same age group. Baltara comprised a number of…
Acheron Youth Training Centre at Buxton was established in the mid 1960s as a facility for young people in Victoria’s youth training centres, particularly Turana. Acheron provided ‘adventure camp facilities’ and other training programs and a 350 acre minimum-security camp near Buxton. Approximately 300 ‘trainees’ a year went to Acheron in work groups. These trainees…
The Alexandra Babies’ Home was established in around 1909. It housed up to 36 children aged under five years of age. From 1964, it was known as the Alexandra Toddlers’ Home. It closed in 1973. The Babies’ Home accommodated boys and girls under 5 years of age. The Home had a capacity of 36 children,…
The Ballarat Female Refuge was established in 1867 by a group of protestant women, with the objective of reforming ‘prostitutes’. It became a shelter for single mothers. It was the first such institution on Australia’s goldfields. In 1921, the Refuge became part of the Ballarat Town and City Mission Rescue and Children’s Home. Initially, the…
Harrison House in Hawthorn was established in 1960. Run by the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, it provided hostel-style residential accommodation for wards of state, boys on probation from the courts or institutions, and boys coming to Melbourne to find work from Kilmany Park in Gippsland. In its early years, it was known as Arthur Harrison…
The Canterbury Family Centre came into being in 1977. In May 2000, the new organisation Connections UnitingCare was created with the amalgamation of the Canterbury Family Centre, Copelen and the Wheelers Hill Family Centre. [Taken from the ReConnections and Re-collections document http://www.connections.org.au/pdfs/ReConnections-and-ReCollections.pdf] The Family Centre stood on the old site of the Presbyterian Babies’ Home,…
The Copelen Street Family Centre was established in 1974 in South Yarra. It included a children’s care centre, offered family counselling, and provided foster care. By the late 1980s the South Yarra property was sold and in 1991, the Centre was renamed Copelen Child and Family Services. The Copelen Street Family Centre grew out of…
The St John of God Training Centre was established by the St John of God Brothers in 1953. It housed around 100 Catholic boys aged 7 to 16 with mild intellectual disabilities, including State wards unable to live with their parents. The St John of God Training Centre occupied the former site of the Methodist…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
