George Street Children's Home

The George Street Children’s Home was established in 1916 and run by the Ballarat Town and City Mission.

The Town and City Mission Visitor of 4 August 1916 appealed for more furniture to be donated to help the children at George Street settle in, and “make the place something like it ought to be”. In September 1916 it was reported that Mrs Grove was in charge of the George Street Home and was caring for “several very young motherless babies and a number of helpless children”. The Visitor of 3 May 1917 stated that the George Street Home catered for children “of some infirmity or physical handicap”. The Home cared for 25 children in 1917 (Wickham and Golding, 2024, p.242).

The Home at George Street was an addition to the Mission’s existing work with children and young women at the Canadian Mission Rescue and Children’s Home. In 1916, the Mission moved children from the Canadian Home to George Street, having decided that the institution at Canadian would be used solely as a rescue home for young women (Ballarat Courier, 5 August 1916).

At the Town and City Mission’s annual meeting in 1917, it was reported that the children at George Street were those who could not be admitted to the Ballarat Orphanage “for some reason”. Some children went from George Street to the Orphanage when they reached the age of admittance, others were placed in “good homes” and others were returned to their families (Ballarat Courier, 12 July 1917).

In 1919, the Mission sent children from George Street to the Canadian Home. The George Street Children’s Home closed in 1920. The year after, the Mission moved its activities to a site in Scott Parade, Ballarat, including the new Ballarat Town and City Mission Rescue and Children’s Home.