The Queen’s Orphan Asylum opened as the King’s Orphan Asylum in New Town in 1833. It was the first purpose built institution for orphaned, destitute and neglected children in Van Diemen’s Land, later Tasmania. It closed in 1879. The Orphan School was the first purpose built institution for accommodating children in Van Diemen’s Land. Before…
Omaru Receiving Home, run by the government, was established in the early twentieth century. It was in Launceston. The Home provided temporary accommodation for children who were wards of the state or supervised in other ways by successive child welfare departments. It closed in about 1965 and the building was used for Omaru Hostel. Omaru…
Laroona Family Group Home, run by the government, opened in Battery Point in 1983. It provided temporary accommodation for children who were wards of the state or supervised in other ways by the Department of Community Welfare and its successors. The Home closed in about 2009. Laroona Family Group Home was in Battery Point, an…
Malmesbury Receiving Home, run by the government, opened in West Hobart in the early 1960s in the building of the former Malmesbury Girls’ Home. It provided temporary accommodation for children who were wards of the state or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department. In the early 1980s, Malmesbury Receiving Home became a…
Gilburn Receiving Home, run by the government, opened in Wynyard in 1959. It provided temporary accommodation for up to eight children who were wards of the state or supervised in other ways by the Social Services Department and its successor, the Social Welfare Department. In the early 1980s, it became Gilburn Family Group Home. Gilburn…
Casablanca Receiving Home, run by the government, opened c.1968. It was in Launceston. The Home provided temporary accommodation for children who were wards of state or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department. In the early 1980s, it became Casablanca Family Group Home. A married woman, known as a Receiving Home Keeper, managed…
Abermere Hostel, run by the government, opened in Mount Stuart in May 1965. It seems to have begun as a hostel for up to six older boys who had started work but were still wards of state. Later, it apparently became a receiving and then a family group home. Abermere closed in 1975. Abermere Hostel…
Rochebank Hostel, run by the government, opened in 1950 in the Glebe, apparently to accommodate children under the Domestic Service Assistance Scheme. After 1972, it also received teenage girls who were wards of state or supervised in other ways by the Social Services Department and its successors. Rochebank became a Family Group Home in the…
Bethany Boys’ Home, run by the Churches of Christ, opened in Dover in 1947 and moved to Lindisfarne in 1956. Up to 18 boys, mostly wards of state aged between 2 and 18, lived there. From 1971 onwards, the Home also accepted girls. It closed in 1978. The gift of a house and land at…
Boys’ Town opened in Glenorchy in 1945. It was run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and, after 1946, by the Salesians of Don Bosco, who opened a school on the premises. Boys’ Town was for boys aged between five and 16 years. Thirty-nine British child migrants lived there between 1952 and 1956 when…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
