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Newcastle Mental Hospital was established in 1871 in buildings that had previously been the Newcastle Industrial School and Reformatory for Girls, and prior to that the government barracks. It was opened to ease overcrowding at asylums in Sydney, and intended to specifically accept patients with developmental disabilities (referred to at the time as “imbeciles” and “idiots”), as opposed to those with acute psychiatric conditions or mental illnesses that onset later in life. Its establishment was somewhat hasty and under-planned, taking advantage of the opportunity presented by the vacant buildings when the Girls Reformatory was moved from the site. It first operated under the name of the Newcastle Asylum for Imbeciles and Idiots, and was run first by the Colonial Secretary, and then by the Inspec

The Melbourne Benevolent Asylum opened in 1851. Due to a lack of other institutions in the colony at the time it was established, the Benevolent Asylum initially accommodated a wide range of people in need. This included children, until 1857 when children were transferred to the Melbourne Orphan Asylum at its new site in Emerald Hill. The establishment of a Benevolent Asylum in Melbourne was first proposed in 1848. The foundation stone at the 10 acre site in North Melbourne was laid in 1850. The Benevolent Asylum accepted its first residents in November 1851 (Kehoe, 1998). The Benevolent Asylum was an imposing building on a site “on the summit of a hill overlooking the junction of the Moonee Ponds Creek with the Salt Water swamp immediately behind the old cattle yards of the Melbourne Auction Company” (Kehoe, p.17). Designed by Charles Lang, it was built in a Tudor Gothic style. Kehoe writes that as demand for accommodation grew, the complex was frequently expanded with new wings

Callan Park Hospital for the Insane was officially opened in 1878 at Lilyfield, Sydney. It was under the control of the New South Wales State Government office of the Inspector General of the Insane. It was opened to help relieve overcrowding at other mental health hospitals in New South Wales. In 1915 the name of the Hospital was changed to the Callan Park Mental Hospital, then again in 1976 to the Callan Park Hospital, and finally in 1994 to the Rozelle Hospital. Rozelle Hospital closed in 2008. Callan Park Hospital is known to have provided ‘care’ to young people under the age of 18 from at least 1888. The Correspondence Files of the Colonial Secretary includes letters relating to the admission of children as young as 11 years old to Callan Park, some of whom had been transferred from other mental health hospitals, and a few who had been transferred from children’s h

Gladesville Mental Hospital officially opened in 1838 under the name Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum. It was located in the Sydney suburb of Gladesville, and was run by the office of the Colonial Secretary before the Office of the Inspector General of the Insane was established in 1876 and took over it’s management. It had several different names thorugh it’s operation, changing to Hospital for the Insane, Tarban Creek in 1868, the Hospital for the Insane, Gladesville in 1869, then Gladesville Mental Hospital in 1915, and from the mid 1960s to Gladesville Hospital. It closed in 1993, and its services were merged with Macquarie Hospital to become the Gladesville Macquarie Hospital. Gladesville Mental Hospital is known to have provided ‘care’ to young people under the age of 18 from at least 1872. The Correspondence Files of the Colonial Secretary includes letters relatin

Parramatta Mental Hospital officially opened in 1849 under the name Parramatta Lunatic Asylum, on the site of the former Parramatta Female Factory. It was was run by the office of the Colonial Secretary before the Office of the Inspector General of the Insane was established in 1876 and took over it’s management. It had several different names throughout it’s operation, changing to Parramatta Hospital for the Insane in 1869, then Parramatta Mental Hospital in 1915, then Parramatta Psychiatric Centre from around 1958. In 1983 Parramatta Psychiatric Centre became Cumberland Hospital. Parramatta Mental Hospital is known to have provided ‘care’ to young people under the age of 18 from at least 1871. The Correspondence Files of the Colonial Secretary includes letters relating to the admission of children as young as eight years old to Parramatta Hospital. These recor

The Mental Hygiene Branch was established in 1944. It assumed responsibility for those functions previously administered by the Department of Mental Hygiene, namely the development and direction of policy governing the treatment of the mentally ill, the care of the intellectually disabled, the care and treatment of alcohol and drug dependent persons, and for the establishment and administration of institutions for their care. The predecessor to the Mental Hygiene Branch, the Department of Mental Hygiene, had been located within the Chief Secretary’s Department of the Victorian public service. With the proclamation of the Ministry of Health Act 1943 (No.4988), the responsibility for the administration of ‘mental hygiene’ and ‘mental deficiency’ was transferred from the Chief Secretary to the Minister for Health. The Ministry of Health Act 1943 provided for a major reorganisation and amalgamation of the administration of health services in Victoria, establishing the state’s first D

Aboriginal Hostels Limited (AHL) was established in June 1973 to provide hostel accommodation and related services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia. AHL was established by the Commonwealth Government as a not-for-profit company, with the AHL board reporting to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. It ran at least one children’s home/hostel for state wards – the Wirraminna Hostel in Essendon, Melbourne. AHL has likely provided accommodation to some state wards in its primary and secondary education hostels, including at the Merindoo Hostel in Gippsland (Victoria), Kirinari Hostel in Sydney, the

The Truganini Hostel was opened as a student hostel by Aboriginal Hostels Ltd (AHL) around 1977. It provided accommodation for Aboriginal students attending school or tertiary education in Hobart. The property had previously been used by AHL as a “transients” hostel for Aboriginal people visiting Hobart. There were approximately 7 students at the hostel in 1977. According to research undertaken by the Tasmanian Redress unit, the Tasmanian government provided funding for several students to live at Truganini Hostel, and at least two of the students were under the guardianship of the state. The 1979 Aboriginal Hostels Ltd. annual report stated that the hostel had changed back to a general purpose transients hostel due to low student numbers. AHL sold the hostel around 1982. This hostel was previously described on Find & Connect as an Aboriginal Family Group Home, which operated between 1976 and 1996. This is now believed to be incorrect. If you have any more information about this

Charlton Memorial Home, also known as Charlton Boys’ Home, was established in Glebe by the Anglican Home Mission Society in 1942. It was a Church of England home that primarily accommodated boys who had appeared in Children’s Courts, but also took a small number of girls. It was located in a building called ‘Avona’, which had previously been the Church of England Home for Girls. It held up to 60 young people, ranging in age from seven to 20. Charlton could in some ways be described as progressive for an institution of its time, however former residents have also described major issues at the home with harsh punishments and sexual abuse perpetrated by staff and other residents. In 1966 Charlton Memorial Home moved to Ashfield. One newspaper article described the wartime context when Char

  Charlton Boys’ Home, Ashfield was established in 1966 by the Anglican Home Mission Society. It had earlier been known as the Charlton Memorial Home, located in Glebe, and moved into a property that was formerly the Milleewa Boys’ Home. In the late 1970s this property became known as Robinson Home. Like its predecessor, Charlton Boys’ Home was in some ways progressive for an institution of its time, however former residents have also described major issues at the home with harsh punishments and sexual abuse perpetrated by staff and other residents. Charlton Boys’ Home was intended to be a modernisation and streamlining of its activities previously conducted at Glebe. Charlton took boys aged 8 to 17 who had bee

Tardun Farm School was opened by the Christian Brothers in 1928 as a Home where boys would learn farm skills. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found the Christian Brothers were amongst the worst perpetrators of abuse nationally, that the relevant Christian Brothers Provincial Council was aware of allegations of abuse from the 1930s onwards, and that between 1947 and 1968 they failed to prevent sexual abuse in their institutions. Western Australia’s Christian Brothers’ institutions were also a subject of the Senate Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care for their brutality, physical and sexual abuse. In 2024 they were called before the parliamentary inq

Castledare was established by the Christian Brothers in Queen’s Park (later, Wilson) on the site of the former Castledare Special School. It began as a residential primary school for boys aged from around 6 to 12 years, including boys who were wards of the State and boys who were placed privately (by family or others), in premises previously used for the ‘Castledare Special School’. Mostly, boys placed at Castledare were aged 8-10 years. Australian-born boys were sent to Castledare, as were child migrants (1947-1966). Castledare has had many name variations over the years, usually keeping ‘Castledare’ somewhere in the title. Castledare closed in 1983. A residential institution, Castledare, operated on a site in what became 100 Fern Road, Wilson (originally, Queen’s Park) from 1934 until 1983. It was run by the Christian Brothers. Castledare was originally (1929-1934) a school for boys with learning difficulties; from 1934 it became a more general educational and residential institut

The ACT Heritage Library is the state library of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It was officially opened in 1995, and is located in the suburb of Fyshwick. The ACT Heritage Library collects, manages and provides access to material relevant to the ACT’s documentary heritage. It offers assistance in researching matters relating to the ACT. The Library’s collection includes local and regional newspapers, maps and plans, photograph collections, books, journals, archives and manuscripts relating to notable individuals, places or events in Canberra’s history. The ACT Heritage Library is part of the ACT Heritage Library and Territory Records Office Libraries ACT within Chief Minister’s and Economic Development Directorate of the ACT Government.

Dalmar began its life as the Central Mission Home for neglected children in Woolloomooloo. The Home moved to Croydon in 1900, then changed its name to Dalmar. In 1923 Dalmar moved to Carlingford where a babies home and cottages were established. Dalmar has been known by many names over time, reflecting shifts in the style of out-of-home care it offered, and the evolution of the Central Methodist Mission. Dalmar stopped serving as a children’s home in the 1980s, but, as Wesley Dalmar Children’s Services and part of Wesley Mission, continues to operate foster care programs and residential care facilities. Dalmar was set up as a children’s home by the Central Methodist Mission. It started as the Central Mission Home for Neglected Children in Woolloomooloo. Having outgrown those premises by 1898 the House Committee sought a suitable property. The Woolloomooloo property was sold to fund for the purchase of a house in Dalmar Street, Croydon. In January 1900 the children moved into the new

Church of England Homes was an agency of the Sydney Anglican Diocese that ran children’s homes in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. It was created around 1884 by Reverend TB Tress and Reverend Dr Manning, in Woolloomooloo, and grew to take in several committees that had operated in the Sydney area. Church of England Homes is not to be confused with Church of England Homes Burwood, which ran the Bishop Wigg Memorial Home. Church of England Homes grew out of what had been a committee of the Church of England Temperance Society. The committee was established in 1884 with the purpose of opening the Church Rescue Home for women and girls in the Sydney area. This home opened in 1885, moving between rented premises in Sydney for several years before settling at Strathmore in Glebe in 1899. This site in Glebe was to be the main site of activity for the committee for the next 40 years. By 1900 the committee had become kn

The Home Mission Society of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, also known as the Church of England Home Mission Society,  was established in Sydney in 1856. It was originally called the Church Society before its name was changed to the Home Mission Society in 1911. It ran several children’s Homes through its Homes and Hostels Committee, and also provided chaplaincy at the children’s courts. Both Care Force and Charlton Youth Services developed from the Home Mission Society. In 1997 the Home Mission Society changed its name to Anglicare. The society’s main objective was to help needy parishes by building new churches, rectories and schools, paying clergy, and evangelising and bringing more people to the church. The Society began to increase its social welfare work in the

Charlton Youth Services was an agency of the Anglican Home Mission Society and, after Anglicare was formed in 1997, of Anglicare Welfare Services. It was formed to manage Charlton Boys Homes in the 1950s. Charlton Youth Services provided care for older boys, many of whom were referred by the courts. By 2012, the name Charlton Youth Services was no longer in use. Some of its records, and records of boys’ homes that were under its supervision, are held by Anglicare Out-of-Home Care Service. Charlton Youth Services operated Charlton Boys Home at Glebe and Ashfield. The Ashfield complex included Milleewa, Robinson and Wright. They also operated Trigg at Granville; Lisgar at Summer Hill (which had previously been at Oatley, Bonnet Bay and Marrickville); Carramar at Girraween and Telopea; and Timaru at Macquarie Fields (Campbelltown) and Ingleburn. Charlton Boys Home at Ashfield consisted of three buildings built at 16 Brunswick Parade, on the former Milleewa boys home site. In the lat

Anglicare, established 1997, is the urban mission and community care arm of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. It dates back to the Home Mission Society of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, established in 1856. Anglicare provides a range of community services and programs across the Sydney metropolitan and Illawarra regions of New South Wales. When Anglicare was formed in 1997, a section called Anglicare Child and Family Services took over the children’s, youth and disability services that had previously been provided by Care Force. It was under the umbrella of Anglicare Welfare Services. Its name changed again in 2008, to Anglicare Out-of-Home Care Services. Anglicare Out-of-Home Care Services provides adoption services, foster care, the Lisgar Youth Support Program and Paul Street Adolescent Residential Program. Anglicare is the custodian of the records of a number of children’s Homes and other institutions, including those Homes run by the Home Mis

Care Force was part of the Anglican Home Mission Society. It was formed in early 1979, and was based at the former Charlton Boys’ Home site at Ashfield. In 1984 it replaced the Church of England Homes, taking over the children’s homes that had been run by the Sydney Diocese of the Church of England. Care Force later became Anglicare Child and Family Services and Anglicare Child Youth and Family Services Department. Records created by, or held by, Church of England Homes and Care Force are held by Anglicare Out-of-Home Care Services. According to an advertisement published in The Sydney Morning Herald in March 1979, the objectives of Care Force were to: Provide accommodation and support for homeless children Place babies in need with loving adoptive parents Assist children from

This is a video on YouTube with a former resident of Mount Penang walking around the site and sharing his memories of abuse he endured at the institution. Other former residents of Mount Penang have left comments on this video.

This is a video on YouTube where 4 former residents and 1 former prison officer share their memories about the Institution for Boys, Tamworth.

This is a YouTube video with footage of the exterior and interior of the former St Paul’s Training School at Newhaven, Phillip Island, Victoria.

This is a video posted on YouTube by Sandie Jessamine, a former resident of Kamballa. It shows Sandie and her grand daughter walking around the former site of Kamballa and some photographs of Kamballa from the 1970s. This is the text accompanying the video: “Kamballa Special Unit was a girls home that existed between 1974 and 1983 in the buildings that had previously been Parramatta Girls Home. Kamballa held girls with emotional or behaviour problems who couldn’t be managed in other juvenile prisons. I was sent there from Reiby Training School, located at Campbelltown, in 1974. I escaped from Kamballa three times. Forty years after my release I returned to finally heal the past. My return motived me to write my memoir Borderline about my time in juvenile custody and lived experience of Borderline Personality Disorder, Complex PTSD and dissociation.”

Many Neighbours is a video from the Red Cross Red Crescent historic film collection. It is a short promotional film about the Australian Red Cross Society released in 1949. It was made for the Victorian Division of the Red Cross and depicts various services in repatration hospitals, convalescent homes, civilian hospitals and in homes of outpatients (The Sun News-Pictorial, 1949). It includes footage of Welfare House in St Kilda, Victoria, a convalescent home for mothers and children.

This is a video posted to YouTube by Relationships Australia Tasmania in 2019, related to its provision of Forced Adoption support services in Tasmania. It includes the story of Judy Balmforth, a client of RA Tas and the author of Not named: from adoption to deadoption, 1948-2014.

‘A big photo album: the archive of the Sisters of St John of God’ is an online news item from ABC Kimberley. It shows pictures of Aboriginal children and adults at communities in the Kimberley, and is about the collection of 34,000 photographs held by the Sisters of St John of God at the Heritage Centre in Broome, Western Australia.

Rita Wright talks about her experiences at Marella Mission Farm as a survivor of the Stolen Generations. This is an excerpt from the TV show Insight (SBS), episode “Looking After the Kids”, which originally aired on April 19 2016.

This is a video featuring records in the NSW state archives collection, an Admission Register from the Protestant Orphan School when it was located in Parramatta.

This is a YouTube video of a radio interview in 2019 on Talk Radio Europe with former child migrant Nigel Owen about his time at the Northcote Farm School in Bacchus Marsh.

This is a youtube video showing a children’s park on the former site of Fairbridge Farm School, Molong.

This video is a news story about Petford Training Farm. The beginning of the video features an introductory segment by a show host which is followed by footage and interviews featuring Geoff Guest and Norma Perrot, the founders of the training farm. The video also includes scenes of a group of Australian Aboriginal youths working with horses, receiving lessons from Geoff, going for a horse ride, and participating in activities such as leatherwork, playfighting and meal times together.

Glenn’s story is a short film by Arnold Zable from 1979. It features the story of 15 year old Glenn Broome who was in the maximum security section of Turana. In the film, Glenn also mentions his time in foster care, and the institutions Allambie and Baltara. Some of the scenes were shot at Turana.

This is a youtube video that contains approximately one minute of footage of Turana from the early 1980s.

This is a Part 1 of a slideshow of photographs from the archives of the Christian Brothers Oceania Province. It was created by ‘old boys’ Peter Bent and Michael Hogan, with assistance from Ed Butler, using images from ‘Institution Albums 1 and 2’. There are all sorts of scenes from life at Clontarf from the 1940s to 1970s. Many people assisted with the identification of boys, brothers and staff to create captions for the images in this slideshow. DVD copies of this slideshow are available from Tuart Place. The Find & Connect website has split the slideshow into two parts so that it could be uploaded onto youtube. Please click on the photo, which will take you to youtube.

This is Part 1 of a slideshow of photographs from the archives of the Christian Brothers Oceania Province. It was created by ‘old boys’ Peter Bent and Michael Hogan, with assistance from Ed Butler, using images from ‘Institution Albums 1 and 2’. There are all sorts of scenes from life at Tardun from the 1940s to 1960s. Many people assisted with the identification of boys, brothers and staff to create captions for the images in this slideshow. DVD copies of this slideshow are available from Tuart Place. The Find & Connect website has split the slideshow into two parts so that it could be uploaded onto youtube. Please click on the photo, which will take you to youtube.

This is a slideshow of photographs from the archives of the Christian Brothers Oceania Province. It was created by ‘old boys’ Peter Bent and Michael Hogan, with assistance from Ed Butler, using images from ‘Institution Albums 1 and 2’ (Holy Spirit Collection). The slideshow has a small number of photos of groups of children about to depart from Britain and Malta in the 1940s and 1950s. DVD copies of this slideshow are available from Tuart Place.

This is a Part 2 of a slideshow of photographs from the archives of the Christian Brothers Oceania Province. It was created by ‘old boys’ Peter Bent and Michael Hogan, with assistance from Ed Butler, using images from ‘Institution Albums 1 and 2’. There are all sorts of scenes from life at Clontarf from the 1940s to 1970s. Many people assisted with the identification of boys, brothers and staff to create captions for the images in this slideshow. DVD copies of this slideshow are available from Tuart Place. The Find & Connect website has split the slideshow into two parts so that it could be uploaded onto youtube. Please click on the photo, which will take you to youtube.

This is Part 2 of a slideshow of photographs from the archives of the Christian Brothers Oceania Province. It was created by ‘old boys’ Peter Bent and Michael Hogan, with assistance from Ed Butler, using images from ‘Institution Albums 1 and 2’. There are all sorts of scenes from life at Tardun from the 1940s to 1960s. Many people assisted with the identification of boys, brothers and staff to create captions for the images in this slideshow. DVD copies of this slideshow are available from Tuart Place. The Find & Connect website has split the slideshow into two parts so that it could be uploaded onto youtube. Please click on the photo, which will take you to youtube.

This is a video of the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, delivering an apology to the people sent as child migrants from Britain in the twentieth century.

On 24 February 2010 the British Government apologised to Former Child Migrants sent from Britain. This is the response by Harold Haig, secretary of The International Association of Former Child Migrants and their Families.

The Parliament of Australia issued a national apology to the Forgotten Australians on 16 November 2009. ‘Prime Minister says sorry’ is a video of then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivering that apology to Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra.

‘Parkerville Children and Youth Care celebrates 110 years of caring’ is a video that outlines a history of the agency from the time when it began as a Home for ‘waifs’ in 1903 to 2013. The video includes photographs and re-enactments.

This is a short film on Tuart Place’s YouTube channel about Redress WA. It was produced by Dr Linda Blagg in collaboration with 24 interviewees, talking about the Redress WA scheme.

This is historical footage of the Northcote Farm School

This video of a 2008 tour of the Abbotsford Convent, Victoria, was previously uploaded in 6 parts, and has since been re-uploaded as a single video. [Description taken from Youtube]: This video is a tribute to my mother, her two sisters and three brothers who were all put into Catholic Institutional care in 1921. My mother and her sisters were taken in by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd at their Abbotsford Convent. Neither my mother nor her sisters were Magdalen inmates The Magdalen inmates were in the section of the convent called Sacred Heart and my mother and sisters were in St Josephs section. Sacred Heart was known informerly as the Penitentiary because it was in effect a prison with bars on windows and high cast iron gates to prevent escapes. The Magdalens were made to work up to 50 hours a week, for no pay to keep one of the biggest commercial laundries in Melbourne running. Income from the laundries made possible all the other pastoral work of the ‘Mother House’ that was th