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The founder of Christian Brothers, Edmund Rice, began the congregation in Ireland in 1808. The congregation spread throughout Ireland and England. The Christian Brothers arrived in Victoria from Ireland in 1868. In 1874, the Christian Brothers were appointed to manage what became known as St Vincent de Paul's Boys' Orphanage in South Melbourne. In 1879, the Christian Brothers assumed responsibility of St Augustine's Orphanage at Geelong. With the closure of the Boys' Home in 1988, these services became known as St Augustine's Child and Family Services, and moved to the Geelong suburb of Whittington. In 1991, the Christian Brothers took over the management of St Joseph's Home for Children in Flemington. It provided temporary and emergency care, short-term residential care and family group homes.
In the lead-up to the amalgamation which led to MacKillop Family Services, the Christian Brothers decided early in 1995 to amalgamate St Augustine's Geelong, St Vincent's South Melbourne, and St Joseph's Flemington.
In 1997, records of the Christian Brothers were transferred to MacKillop Family Services. These included records of the various orphanages, homes and other residences run by the Christian Brothers. While custodianship of the records about people in 'care' became the responsibility of MacKillop Family Services at this point, it was formally agreed that the intellectual property in these records would not change hands.
