The Guardianship Board, established by the Mental Health Act of 1963, replaced the Mental Deficiency Board in 1963. Its purpose was to assume the guardianship of people with an intellectual disability or mental illness. It also advised the Minister about the care, treatment and occupations of people suffering from an intellectual disability or psychiatric illness….
The Mental Deficiency Board was established in 1922 by the 1920 Mental Deficiency Act. It oversaw the classification and management of children and adults deemed to have an intellectual disability. The Board supervised a number of state wards in conjunction with the Children of the State, and later, the Social Services Departments. The Guardianship Board…
The Hobart Benevolent Society was originally formed in 1832 but has run continuously since 1859. It was, and remains, a Protestant organisation that assisted people in poverty. Between 1880 and 1881, it managed the boarding out system. In 2014, it is managed by Uniting Care. The Hobart Benevolent Society based its approach to charity on…
The Hobart City Mission was founded in 1852. Its brief was to spread the gospel to non-church goers in inner city working class communities. The Hobart City Mission is still active. Like the London City Mission, Hobart City Missioners were Protestant but non-denominational. They saw working class communities as a mission field because they seemed…
The Churches of Christ are a network of charismatic Protestant churches that provide mutual support while accepting the differences between them. The first Tasmanian Church opened in 1865. The Church became known as the Disciples of Christ in 1885 and the Churches of Christ in 1915. The Churches of Christ in Tasmania ran Bethany Boys’…
The first Tasmanian Children’s Court was set up with the passage of the Youthful Offenders, Destitute and Neglected Children’s Amendment Act 1905. This law that children and young people’s cases be heard away from the police office, that people not directly involved be excluded from the room, and that the charge be recorded in a…
The Anchorage Home, run by the Ladies Christian Association, opened in 1889. It was initially in Hobart. Later it moved to New Town. The Home was for young single mothers having their first baby. It closed in 1920. The Anchorage Home opened on 17 September 1889 in Carr Street, off Argyle Street. The house had…
The Contagious Diseases Hospital was established at the Female Factory, Cascades in 1879. Initially the government ran it but in 1895, the committee of the Home of Mercy, a Church of England rescue home, took it over. The Hospital was for women and girls suffering from sexually transmitted diseases. It closed in 1900. The Contagious…
St Joseph’s Child Care Centre replaced St Joseph’s Orphanage (Aikenhead House), opening on 22 February 1970. It was located in Taroona and run by the Sisters of Charity. The Centre provided cottage accommodation for 30 children in three cottages, and also supervised the Family Group Homes of Villa Maria, Loreto, Carinya, and later, Bimbadeen. In…
St Joseph’s Waterton Hall, run by the Sisters of St Joseph’s, opened in 1951. It was a boarding school in Rowella for girls aged between 6 and 12. In 1952, the School became an approved institution for British child migrants but it never received any. It appears to have closed in the late 1960s or…
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