Archives



Royal Women’s Hospital

The Royal Women’s Hospital was established in 1856. Its first location was a two-storey house in East Melbourne, then in 1858 it moved to a site in Madeline St (now Swanston St) in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Carlton. Originally called the Melbourne Lying-In Hospital and Infirmary for Diseases of Women and Children, its name was…

Meli

Meli is an organisation created in April 2023, following a merger of Bethany and Barwon Child Youth & Family (BCYF). Meli’s office in Hamlyn Heights (Geelong) is on the former site of the Geelong Female Refuge, established in 1868, and Bethany Babies’ Home (1928-1977). BCYF’s originated with the Geelong Orphan Asylum (established 1854), later known…

Collaroy Convalescent Home

Collaroy Convalescent Home opened in July 1921 to accommodate children recovering from illness or needing ongoing hospital stays and treatment. The Home was located on the beachfront in Collaroy and was donated to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children. The Home continued to operate until 1969 when it closed and became an annexe of the…

Adelaide City Mission

The Adelaide City Mission was established in 1867, its principal aim being the “evangelisation of the neglected classes“. The Mission was involved in various charitable activities with Adelaide’s poor, and also organised religious activities such as gospel meetings (The Register, 20 July 1927). In 1926, the Adelaide City Mission opened the Aboriginal Women’s Home in the…

Human Rights Commission, Australian Capital Territory

The Human Rights Commission, ACT oversees issues of human rights and justice in the ACT, including ensuring that ACT government agencies are complying with human rights. As part of this work, it undertook an audit into the Quamby Youth Detention Centre in 2005.

Canossian Daughters of Charity

The Canossian Daughters of Charity is a Catholic order founded in Italy in 1808. They first came to Australian in 1949, and arrived in Darwin in 1970 with the purpose of establishing a residential children’s home – Bakhita Village. They ran the children’s home from 1972 until late December 1974, when it was destroyed by…

Salvation Army Maternity Home, Charters Towers

The Salvation Army Maternity Home opened at Charters Towers in September 1898. It was located in a large house owned by Mr Tubbs on Gordon Street, at Richmond Hill. It had capcity for 7 women and 9 babies. Women staying at the home were expected to do sewing work to help supplement the home’s income….

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…

St Mary’s Home, Rockhampton

St Mary’s Home, Rockhampton, was opened in 1907 at “The Range”, Jessie Street, as a Home for unmarried mothers and their babies. It was run by a committee of the Anglican Diocese of Rockhampton, although the home accepted women of any denomination. Initially women were expected to stay at the home for at least eight…

Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, State Government of Queensland

The Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships was established in late 2020. It amalgamated the recently abolished Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships with the Seniors and Disability Services functions of the former Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors. Within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander…