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Medical experiments on children in institutions happened in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Australia. The first documented experimentation on children in institutions in Australia was in 1803, where it was reported that John Savage, Assistant Surgeon of the New South Wales Colony, was “trying the effects” of the smallpox vaccine on “some of the Orphan Children, with the Governor and Committee’s Permission” (The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 15 May 1803). At this time, supplies of the smallpox vaccine were maintained by injecting uninfected people with the virus, and women and girls at the Parramatta Female Factory were inoculated for this purpose (Weston, Gallagher and Branley, 2014). During the twentieth century, babies and children in orphanages and Homes were used as subjects for medical experiments. The Forgotten Australians report detailed a number of studies carried out on children in orphanages and children’s Homes and

The Malmsbury Youth Training Centre was established by the state government in 1965. In 2018, it was known as the Malmsbury Youth Justice Precinct. Malmsbury was primarily for males aged 18 to 20 serving a Youth Justice Centre order. Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre closed in December 2023. During the mid 1970s the dormitory style accommodation at Malmsbury was converted to smaller units with bedroom accommodation. This increased the options for treatment available in the Centre. When the Langi Kal Kal youth training centre was closed in March 1993, Malmsbury became Victoria’s main Youth Training Centre for 17 to 20 year old offenders. In 1994 a major redevelopment of Malmsbury commenced. The redevelopment improved the centre’s safety, security and program capacity for 17 to 21 year old young male offenders. The new 75 bed centre at Malmsbury was opened in December 1997. The Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre closed in December 2023. Young people were moved to Parkville Youth Jus

Langi Kal Kal was established by the Victorian state government in 1951. Located at Trawalla, near Beaufort, it was initially a prison for adult offenders, but it also received people under 17 years of age. Langi Kal Kal became a ‘training centre’ in 1958. In 1965, Langi Kal Kal became a Youth Training Centre specifically for young offenders with custodial orders. In June 1993, it became an adult prison again. In addition to the standard Youth Training Centre Program, including community service projects and weekend camping, the Centre operated a general purpose farm on its 2700 acre property and supplied farm products to other Departmental institutions. In 1972, it was reported that the meat and vegetables grown at Langi Kal Kal were supplying the needs of Langi Kal Kal itself, plus providing supplies to Pentridge and Ararat Prisons. Vegetables were sent to Turana, Malmsbury and Winlaton (1972 Social Welfare Department Annual Report, p29). The farm activities and other education

The Victorian Children’s Aid Society Home was opened on 13 November 1901 by the Victorian Neglected Children’s Aid Society. Situated in Leonard Street, Parkville, this Home had a number of different names over time. It was a non denominational children’s Home, providing accommodation for boys and girls. From around 1920, it was referred to as the Victorian Children’s Aid Society Home, or simply the Victorian Children’s Aid Society. In 1957, it was renamed Swinburne Lodge. After the property was sold in late 1966, the Home moved from Parkville to Black Rock and became known as Swinburne House. The Victorian Neglected Children’s Aid Society, under the leadership of Selina Sutherland, established the Home in Leonard Street, Parkville in November 1901. In its earliest days, it was known as Ayr Cottage and Miss Sutherland’s Home for Children. On 6 July 1904, The Herald reported that ‘Considerable additions are to be made to Ayr Cottage, where Miss Sutherland carries on one of t

The Church of England Training Home for Girls opened on the 9th August 1909 as a Home for girls between the ages of 14 and 16. The Home, also known as the Tress-Manning Home, was built at Forsyth Street, Glebe, on a site between the Church Rescue Home for Women (Strathmore) and the Church of England Girls Home (Avona). The home was established with the intention of separating the older girls from the younger girls under the care of the Church of England Homes. The first girls in residence were moved there from Avona. Other girls, often described disparagingly in newspaper articles as “uncontrollable”, were sent to Tress-Manning through the Children’s Court. An article published in the Sydney Morning Herald on the opening of the home described it as follows: “The home is cheerful and bright looking. There is

The Church of England Home for Girls, also known as Avona, was opened in 1904 at Glebe, on a site next to the Church Rescue Home (Strathmore). It had capacity for approximately 60 girls. Avona was opened to provide an alternative to housing young girls with older women at Strathmore, as the committee running the homes believed that the women would have a negative influence on the girls. Initially Avona took girls aged 3-16 years old, however from 1909 girls from the age of 14 were sent to the neighbouring Tress-Manning Home. In 1907 the annual meeting of the Church of England Homes committee reported that 65 girls had been admitted to Avona over the previous 12 months. The committee stated that the Home took “destitute” children. Many of these children came from the Children’s Court, but the Home also “searched ou

Arden Girls’ Home was opened by the Church of England Homes on 5th August 1919 at Forsyth Street, Glebe. It was both a girls home, as well as administrative headquarters for the Church of England’s management of its other Homes on the opposite side of Forsyth Street (Avona Girls’ Home, Tress-Manning Girls’ Training Home, Strathmore Women’s Home and later Strathmore Girls’ Home). The first girls at Arden were transferred there from the Church of England Children’s Home at Carlingford (Minden), enabling that home to be used as a Home for boys. Girls at Arden did schoo

Charlton Memorial Home, also known as Charlton Boys’ Home, was established in Glebe by the Home Mission Society in 1942. It was a Church of England home that primarily dealt with boys who had appeared in Children’s Courts, but also took girls. It held up to 40 young people, ranging in age from seven to 18. It was located in a building called ‘Avona’, which had previously been part of the Church Rescue Home. In 1966 Charlton Memorial Home moved to Ashfield. The Home was named after Archdeacon Charlton, who a former head of the Home Mission Society. A 1945 Sydney Morning Herald article said Charlton home was established for children attending the Children’s Court and was for “child delinquents and ‘those who might become such without proper care and education’.” According to its annual reports, the Home Mission Society ran a chaplaincy at the Children’s Courts, supporting non-Catholic children and their families during hearings and providing support to boys and girls who wer

This is a photo of Arden Girls’ Home at Glebe. It shows a large two-storey stone building directly next to a smaller single-storey cottage with a glassed-in front verandah. There are several small statues in front of the larger building. This photo is undated, the date included is an estimate.

Strathmore Girls’ Home was opened on 8th February 1923 by the Church of England Homes at Glebe in a building that had previously been used as the Church Rescue Home for women. Strathmore was on the same site as the Avona Girls’ Home and the Tress Manning Girl’s Training Home. Strathmore had capacity for 50 girls. It was opened due to an increasing number of applications for girls to be admitted to Avona, which was at capacity. A notice published in The Sydney Morning Herald (‘Anglican Homes’, 8 February 1922) stated that many of the girls who were to be placed at the new home were the “orphans” of soldiers. Girls at Strathmore, like girls at the other Church of England Homes at Glebe, did school work in the morning,

St John’s Homes for Boys and Girls came into 1958. Previously, it had been called St John’s Home for Boys. The name change reflected a decision by the Board of Management in 1956 that St John’s was to move towards a cottage system of accommodation and could start to receive both boys and girls. The Homes were located on a large site in Balwyn Road, Canterbury. St John’s Homes for Boys and Girls in Canterbury comprised the large “Shrublands” mansion, as well as a number of smaller cottages and hostels that were built on the site from the 1950s onwards. The organisation transitioned away from institutional models of ‘care’ towards cottages, hostels, family group homes and foster care. In addition to the Homes on the Canterbury site, St John’s Homes for Boys and Girls Board of Management also provided out of home care at various sites throughout the eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. The organisation continued to be based at the Canterbury site after it ceased to provide instituti

This is sketch of Strathmore at Glebe. It shows a grand three-storey stone building on top of a small hill. The first two floors of the building have verandahs, and the third is slightly smaller with large windows overlooking the grounds of the Strathmore estate.

The Church Rescue Home was established in 1885 and run by a committee associated with the Church of England Temperance Society. It opened as a Home for the “rescue” of “intemperate”, “inebriate”, and “fallen” women (‘Church Home for the Intemperate and the Fallen’, published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 September 1884), including teenage girls. While the Home was associated with the Church of England, it accepted women from any denomination. The Home was officially opened in an eight-roomed rented house at 242 Forbes Street, Darlinghurst, on the 6th March 1885, with 14 women in residence, and capacity for up to 20. This house quickly proved to be too small for the number of women in residence – by the end of March that year there were 25 women living there. On 5th May 1886 the Home officially opened in a larger building on the corner of Crown and Albion streets, Surry Hills. In 1892 the Home had relocated again to the corner of Norfolk and Suffolk Street, Paddington, wh

This is a photograph of the building known as Strathmore at Glebe. It shows a large three-storey stone building with a small front portico in the middle of a lower-storey verandah. The sides of the verandah appear to have been partially enclosed, potentially for use as additional rooms. Strathmore was bought by the Church of England in 1899 for use as a women’s rescue home, then as a girl’s home. In the 1930s, when this photograph was taken, Strathmore was used as accommodation for homeless families.

Mt Lawley Reception Home was the new name given in 1973 to the government-run Child Welfare Reception Home. It gave temporary accommodation to children and young people who were: awaiting placement with foster parents or institutions; staying in Perth for medical or dental treatment; and referred from, or awaiting appearances at, the Children’s Court. In 1980 Mt Lawley Reception Home became the Walcott Centre. Stolen generations children who were forcibly removed from their families also stayed at the Home. The Mt Lawley Reception Home was run by the Department for Community Welfare. Mt Lawley Reception Home continued to be referred to by its previous name, Child Welfare Reception Home (or acronyms such as CWRH) in departmental files throughout the period 1974 to 1979. In 1980, the Mt Lawley Reception Home became the Walcott Centre.

Government Receiving Home was the new name given in 1935 to the Government Receiving Depot in Mount Lawley, which provided temporary accommodation to children awaiting placements with foster parents or institutions, including members of the Stolen Generations. In 1953 Government Receiving Home became the Child Welfare Reception Home. It also accommodated children who were awaiting medical or dental treatment in Perth, or who were scheduled for appearance at the Children’s Court. Private admissions were also accommodated.

This image shows buildings of the Church of England Girls’ Homes in Glebe.  The building in the foreground is Avona, then Tress-Manning behind it, and Strathmore in the background. Girls from the Home can be seen sitting on the steps outside of Avona. Avona and its grounds later became the Charlton Memorial Home. This image was published in The Sydney Morning Herald on 11 May 1928. The description reads: “The scattered and dilapidated buildings in which 150 girls are now housed. The building in the distance was formerly the residence of the late Sir George Wigram Allen.”

This is a photo of the Church Rescue Home at Glebe, also known as Strathmore. It shows a grand three-storey stone building situated on a slight hill.

Child Welfare Reception Home was the new name given in 1953 to the Government Receiving Home in Mount Lawley. It gave temporary accommodation to children and young people who were: awaiting placement with foster parents or institutions; staying in Perth for medical or dental treatment; and referred from or awaiting appearances at the Children’s Court. In 1973 Child Welfare Reception Home became the Mt Lawley Reception Home. The Home was run by the Child Welfare Department and had a number of functions. It was a temporary place for children coming into the child welfare system who went on to placement in an institution or foster home. Children from the country who had no family in Perth might also stay there while they had medical or dental treatment in Perth. The Reception Home also took children who had been referred from the Children’s Court. In 1954, the Home was criticised by an academic study which found that the facilities were old, inappropriate and depressing; that there

Fremantle Community Youth Services began in 1977 in a three-bedroom home on Quarry Street, Fremantle, offering short to medium term accommodation to young people. It was run by the City of Fremantle, and, between 1985 and 1989, it was run by Mofflyn Child and Family Care Services. In 2001 the service offered medium and long term housing to approximately 36 young people, some of whom have families, in up to 26 units. Fremantle Community Youth Services was a 3-bedroom house owned by the Fremantle City Council. In the early and mid-1980’s, the service was targeted to 15-18 year old males and females who were not yet able to live independently, and provided short to medium term accommodation. There was a back-up social worker support for young people requiring additional support. From January 1988 residential care was no longer provided at the Quarry Street house, and Fremantle Community Youth Services instead provided referral and support services from Quarry street, and accommodate

Dellahale House was established in 1964 to replace the Protestant Children’s Home in Geraldton. It provided residential accommodation for girls attending high school in Geraldton. Dellahale House was managed by Geraldton Protestant Children’s Homes Inc on behalf of the Country High School Hostels Authority. In 1981, the manager of John Frewer House was appointed to manage both Dellahale and John Frewer House. John Frewer House (boys) and Dellahale House (girls) were separated by the grounds of Geraldton Senior High School. The girls’ college closed as a residential facility in 2001, reopening in 2002 as the coeducational Geraldton Residential College on the Dellahale site. It was common for the Country High School Hostels Authority hostels to have an annual ‘jamboree’ and this was held at Geraldton in 1988. At a public hearing during the Special Inquiry into St Andrew’s Hostel, Katanning, the Manager testified about the behaviour of a staff member in 1993-94 and the way

Cornelie Home was the name given in 1898 to the Salvation Army’s rescue Home when it moved to North Perth (Highgate) from Perth (East Perth). It accommodated single mothers, pregnant women, elderly women and women who had been released from prison. The 1900 report of the Aborigines Department showed that the Salvation Army Rescue Home received grants of £3 5s. It is likely that this referred to the Cornelie Home. The Chief Protector, Henry Prinsep referred in the report (p.4) to the ‘occasional help in the care of children’ given by the Salvation Army’. The Cornelie Home was a fifteen-room house, purpose-built as a Rescue Home for women and maternity home for ‘unmarried girls’ on land granted by the Government in Highgate. In an overview written in 1984, Cornelie’s residents were described as ‘elderly, destitute or alcoholic women, un-wed mothers, deserted wives, women on release from prison or young offenders’. In 1899, the Kalgoorlie Miner reported there were nine ‘c

Cottesloe House was a cottage home established by the Salvation Army in Mount Lawley around 1973 which accommodated both girls and boys. Previously, the premises had been the Witnell House Girls’ Home (also known as Cottesloe House). By 1979 there were ten children living at Cottesloe House: five were wards and five were private admissions. In that year, Cottesloe House was described as providing longer term care for boys and girls aged 5-17 years but admitting children for shorter stays where necessary. Sibling groups were admitted. Cottesloe House had a garden, play area, trampoline, swings and slides, barbeque, cricket pitch, cubby house, one pet, bikes and a range of sporting equipment. Children went to church or Sunday school. There were 6 bedrooms – 1 single and 5 doubles; a lounge room; kitchen/dining; 3 bathrooms and 4 toilets; a study, playroom and office; a verandah and 3 staff bedrooms and 1 staff bathroom and toilet; a pool or table tennis table; TV, piano;

Collie Boys’ Home The Collie Boys’ Home was established by the Salvation Army in 1902 for boys aged from 4 years, outside Collie on land previously settled by the Pollard family,. It was one of three institutions set on 8,093 hectares of land held by the Salvation Army, the other being the Salvation Army Industrial School for Boys, Collie and the Salvation Army Industrial School for Girls, Collie.  The exact starting dat

This is a photograph of girls at the Church of England Home for Girls, Avona, at Glebe. It shows approximately 40 girls standing on a lawn in front of Avona, which is a large stone building with wrought-iron verandahs. Some of the girls are holding hands and standing in a circle, while others face the camera straight-on. Most of the girls are wearing dark dresses with large white collars, though a few of them are wearing white aprons. Two women in white aprons (presumably staff members) can be seen on the lower verandah of Avona, which is raised up several metres from the lawn. To the side of Avona there is a glass conservatory or green-house, and in the background the Girls Training Home ‘Tress-Manning’ can be seen.