Archives



Woodbridge-West Winds Receiving Home

Woodbridge-Westwinds Receiving Home, run by the government, opened in 1963. It was in Woodbridge. The Home provided accommodation for wards of state. It closed in 1967. The Social Welfare Department intended Woodbridge-Westwinds Receiving Home to be temporary. The Department had bought the property of 44 acres with a timber house at Woodbridge where they planned…

Sunshine Association

The Sunshine Association formed in 1937 to raise funds to provide holidays for children from poor or isolated homes. In 1951, the Association opened the Sunshine Home which closed in 1980. In 2012, the Association provides funds for holiday camps and sports activities as well as educational and medical expenses for children in poverty or…

Sunshine Home

The Sunshine Home, run by the Sunshine Association, opened in Howrah (a suburb of Hobart) in 1951. It provided holidays of up to three weeks to children from poor or isolated homes. The Home closed in 1980. The Sunshine Home opened on 11 August 1951. The Home was the idea of Margaret Reid, an infant school…

Rochebank Family Group Home

Rochebank Family Group Home, run by the government, replaced Rochebank Hostel in about 1981. It was in the Glebe. Rochebank provided temporary accommodation to children who were wards of state or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department and its successors. Rochebank closed in 2009. A married woman managed Rochebank Family Group Home…

The Public Health Act 1903, Tasmania

The Public Health Act 1903 also known by the full title ‘An Act to consolidate and amend the Law relating to Public Health’ (Act no. 3 Edw. VII No.37), enacted in response to the recent Launceston smallpox epidemic, established the Public Health Department, repealed the Contagious Diseases Acts (Act no.42 Vict. No.36), and provided for…

Women’s Health Association

The Women’s Health Association formed out of the Women’s Sanitary Association in 1901. They visited working-class women to teach them about sanitation and campaigned for better conditions for factory workers, better housing for the poor, and the health of children. After 1901, the influence of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union on child welfare policy seems…

Women’s Sanitary Association

The Women’s Sanitary Association was formed in 1891 to assist the Sanitary and General Improvement Association. Members of the Association visited working-class streets and advised the women living there on hygiene and the methods of nursing infectious diseases. In 1901, the Women’s Sanitary Association became the Women’s Health Association.

Children’s Protection Society

The Children’s Protection Society was formed in 1903 by members of the Women’s Health Association in order to campaign for better care of babies born to single mothers. The members of the Society went on to take up other campaigns which they believed would benefit children. The formation of the Children’s Protection Society was a…

Kiah Family Group Home

Kiah Family Group Home, run by the government, opened in 1985. It was in Glenorchy. The Home provided temporary accommodation to children who were wards of state or supervised in other ways by the Department of Community Services and its successors. Kiah closed around 2000. A married woman managed Kiah Family Group Home with the…

The Cottage Home

The Cottage Home, run by the government, opened in the Glebe in 1943. It provided accommodation for children who were wards of state. The Home closed in about 1950. The Cottage Home seems to be the first institution of its type in Tasmania. According to the Annual Report of 1944, the Department opened the Cottage…