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Omaru Community Youth Centre

Omaru Community Youth Centre, run by the government, opened in 1977. It was in Launceston. The Centre provided non-residential support and supervision for children aged eight to seventeen. It closed around 1995. Omaru Community Youth Centre was in Union Street, Launceston. It started as a pilot project for teenage girls in May 1977. A program…

Cornwall Receiving Home

Cornwall Receiving Home, run by the government, opened in the late 1970s. It was in Launceston. The Home provided temporary accommodation to children who were wards of state or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department. Cornwall Receiving Home became Cornwall Family Group Home in 1980. A married woman, known as a Receiving…

Danbury Receiving Home

Danbury Family Receiving Home, run by the government, opened in 1976. It provided temporary accommodation to children who were wards of state or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department. The Home became Danbury Family Group Home in 1980. A married woman, known as a Receiving Home Keeper, managed Danbury with the assistance…

Gilburn Family Group Home

Gilburn Family Group Home, run by the government, replaced Gilburn Receiving Home in about 1981. It was in Wynyard. The Home provided temporary accommodation for up to 8 children who were wards of the state or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department and its successors. The Home closed in about 1985. A…

Sherriff and Gaols Department, Colony of Tasmania

The Sheriff and Gaols Department, established in 1824, enforced Supreme Court judgements and managed the jury system. In this role, it oversaw local gaols, many of which housed children. In 1901, following Australian federation, Tasmania became a state and the state government took over the management of the Sheriff and Gaols Department.

Catholic Family Welfare Bureau (Tasmania)

The Catholic Family Welfare Bureau opened in 1959. Its activities included contraception advice, marriage guidance, and adoption services. In 1977, it became Centacare Tasmania. The Roman Catholic Archbishop, Sir Guildford Young, established the Catholic Family Welfare Bureau for two reasons. Firstly, he aimed to dissociate the Roman Catholic Church from scientific contraception, recently endorsed by…

Havenview Children’s Home

Havenview Children’s Home, run by the Christian Brethren under the auspices of Glenhaven Children’s Home, opened in about 1970. It was in Devonport. The Home provided cottage accommodation for around three children. It closed around 1989. A married couple belonging to the Christian Brethren with three children of their own, one adopted, ran Heavenview Children’s…

Christian Brethren in Tasmania

The Christian Brethren first came to Tasmania in 1869. They are an evangelical Protestant church with no ordained ministers and a strong lay involvement in their activities. The Brethren ran Glenhaven Children’s Home in Ulverstone and Hillcrest Children’s Home in Hobart. By the end of the 1870s the Christian Brethren were well established in most…

St Michael’s Priory

St Michael’s Priory, in Rokeby, became an approved children’s home in 1974. It accommodated children temporarily as part of a wider counselling and welfare service to the community of Rokeby. The Priory closed in 1977. The monastic community that became St Michael’s Priory began in a large house in Seymour Street, New Town, in about…

Uniting Care Tasmania

Uniting Care Tasmania, which formed in 2008, is an agency of the Victorian and Tasmanian Synod of the Uniting Church. It provides services to families and communities as well as acting as an advocate for social justice. In 2013, the Hobart Benevolent Society, which assists people in poverty, and Cerebral Palsy Tasmania are a part…