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The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare defines adoption as “The legal process by which a person legally becomes a child of the adoptive parent(s) and legally ceases to be a child of his/her existing parent(s)”. In Australia, each state or territory has its own adoption legislation and its own policies and processes. In the 1960s, the Commonwealth government led a model legislation project to harmonise the various adoption acts in Australia, and to ensure that the states recognised each others’ adoption laws. In Victoria, the first adoption legislation was passed in 1928. Prior to this, adoptions still did take place in Victoria, however this happened outside of any legal frameworks. Adoptions during this period before legislation existed are referred to as “de facto” or “informal” adoptions. The first adoption acts passed by Australian jurisdictions were designed to provide certainty for par

Note: As of February 2026, there is no access to the Pallottine Archives, due to no archivist working there currently and the transfer of other leadership positions. Unfortunately the Pallottine Archives are unable to help with records requests for now. Please contact the Pallottine Archivist, Archives of the Pallottine Fathers and Brothers – Australian Region: Postal address: 60 Fifth Avenue, Rossmoyne WA 6148 Phone: (08) 9354 0208 Email: archives@pallottine.org.au Website: https://www.pallottine.org.au/history/archives.html

This is a film made about Arthur Walker, born in 1925, who spent time in foster care and a number of Victorian institutions during his childhood.

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

Sister Kate’s Children’s Cottage Home was established in Queen’s Park by mid-1934 when Sister Kate Clutterbuck moved with seven Aboriginal children from the Children’s Cottage Home at Buckland Hill in Cottesloe. The Home was funded by the Aborigines Department to house children believed to have European heritage, which was determined by the colour of their skin.  During World War II the children at the Home were evacuated to Greenbushes Hostel and Memorial Cottage Roleys

Elim Maternity Hospital, run by the Salvation Army, opened in West Hobart in 1897. It was a rescue Home for young women, including teenagers, and a maternity hospital for single mothers. Many adoptions took place from Elim. It closed in about 1973. Elim occupied a two storey Victorian weatherboard building in Lansdowne Crescent, West Hobart. Its original name was ‘The Delight’, possibly derived from its good view of the River Derwent. Later it became Elam and then Elim. As a journalist noted in 2021, “In the first-person accounts collected in the National Archives of Australia’s Forced Adoptions History Project, there is one word that is repeatedly used to describe Elim House: horror” (The Examiner, 21 September 2021). Elim opened as a rescue Home, that is, it accommodated young women and girls sent there because they did not conform to the sexual morality of the day. Since some of them were pregnant, it soon became a maternity hospital for single mothers. It had 18 beds

The Parramatta Girls Training School was the new name given in 1946 to the former Parramatta Girls Training Home. It accommodated around 160 to 200 older girls at a time who had been charged with crimes, or committed by welfare organisations. Although the Annual Reports of the Child Welfare Department claimed it had made positive changes in the institution, very little changed inside in these years. Some children were transferred from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and placed in this Home. The Parramatta Girls Training School closed in 1974. The institution at Parramatta has a long history including several name changes from 1887 to 1975. It has been estimated that up to 30,000 girls passed through Parramatta over this time; it is a significant site in Australian women’s and child welfare history. Girls were placed in Parramatta for a variety of reasons: they had been committed by welfare organisations; had been charged with crimes; were on remand or because they had not

Winlaton, in Nunawading, was established in 1956 as Victoria’s main state-run institution for adolescent girls. Prior to this (from 1951 to 1953) the building was a Home, also called Winlaton, run by the Mission of St James and St John. Winlaton Juvenile School received its first placements in 1956. Many female juvenile offenders were committed to Winlaton by the courts; however, throughout its history Winlaton housed many girls and young women who had not committed a crime. Winlaton had a training school, and by 1959 it also housed a reception centre (Winbirra) and a hostel (Leawarra). In 1991 it was renamed the Nunawading Youth Residential Service. The Winlaton home run by the Mission of St James and St John from 1951 was taken over by the Children’s Welfare Department in 1953. That year, the Department’s annual report stated that: … during the year it was decided to erect at “Winlaton”, Nunawading, a training and rehabilitation centre for delinquent girls. In three

This is a copy of a black and white photograph of the exterior of Winlaton. There are four cars parked and a driveway, with three lamposts.

‘Government Industrial School for Boys and Girls’ is an image included (p.26) in the Report by the Superintendent of Public Charities and Inspector of Industrial and Reformatory Schools, etc., for the year ending 31 December 1900. This image shows a long single-storey stone building, with an elaborate central front entrace flanked by small turrets on each side. Several dozen children in white uniforms are standing on the lawn in front of the building, behind a white picket fence.

This is a copy of a photograph of Elim House from the mid twentieth century, from the Salvation Army Archives. It was published in an article in The Examiner on 23 August 2023, and was supplied to the newspaper by Shelley Freeman.

The New South Wales Department of Child Welfare (and its predecessor and successor departments) created a wide range of records about state wards. These records contain personal information about former wards of the state, and include case files, ward history cards, foster parent files, registers and indexes of children in certain types of institutions, after-care files, and records relating to the operation of Homes and institutions for young people. The majority of these records are held by Museums of History NSW (State Archives), although more modern records from the 1980s onwards remain in the custody of the Department of Family and Community Services. Access Conditions Access to these records is restricted. In New South Wales, records relating to individuals, such as case files and correspondence are closed to public access for 100 years. Records such as registers and indexes are closed to public access for 80 years. Care Leavers wishing to access records about thems

Please contact Melbourne Legacy: Postal Address: Box 4312, GPO Melbourne VIC 3001 Phone: (03) 8626 0500 Email: csv@legacymelb.com.au Website: https://www.melbournelegacy.com.au/

The Anglicare Children’s Homes, Foster Care and Out-of-Home Care Records collection includes records from the Church of England Homes and Sydney Anglican Home Mission Society, as well as some records relating to group homes and foster care. The collection also includes records from some Homes not operated by Anglicare, Church of England Homes or Sydney Anglican Home Mission Society. The collection dates from 1920s to 2010s. Access Conditions For access to these records please contact Care Leavers Records and Archives. Access to information contained in these records is restricted to ex-clients, or to a member of an ex-client’s family providing they have the written permission of that person. Support can be provided to people as they access their records. People applying to get access to information must provide proof of identity. Records The records for each individual generally contain: Admission and discharge information, including: child’s name; ad

This archival collection contains records relating to Anglicare Adoption Services, previously known as Carramar Adoption Agency from 1961 to 1965 , then known as the Church of England Adoption Agency from 1965 to 1978 before changing its name a third time to the Anglican Adoption Agency from 1978 to 1997. The records in this archival collection date from 1961 to 1997. As of 1 July 2024, access to adoption records from Adoption Orders made in or after 1998 is through the Post Adoption Information Unit at the Department of Communities and Justice. Access Conditions For access to these records please contact Anglicare Adoption Services. Access to the records in this collection is based around the Adoption Act 2000. For plain language information on what this means for you the New South Wales Gove

Please contact Anglicare Adoption Services: Postal address: 19A Gibbons St, Telopea NSW 2117 Phone: (02) 9890 6800 Website: https://www.anglicare.org.au/community/adoption/  

Anglicare Adoption Services was established in 1997. Previously it was known as the Anglican Adoption Agency. Until 2024, it organised adoptions and provided ongoing support to all main parties in a past made through Anglicare and its predecessor organisations. As of 1 July 2024, the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) became the sole provider of local adoption services in NSW. From this date, Anglicare only facilitates adoptions for children and young people currently in Anglicare’s out of home care services. From 2024, Anglicare provides access to Adoption Records for Adoption Orders from 1961 to 1997; access to adoption records from Adoption Orders made in or after 1998 is through the Post Adoption Information Unit at DCJ.

Please contact the Care Leaver Records Access Unit, Community Services: Postal Address: Care Leaver Records Access Unit, Community Services, Department of Communities and Justice, Locked Bag 5000, Parramatta NSW 2150 Phone: 1300 137 160 or (02) 9716 2500 Email: clra@dcj.nsw.gov.au Website: https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/children-and-families/out-of-home-care/about-out-of-home-care/accessing-your-care-records.html

The Bungarimbil Adolescent and Family Care Program operated as part of the Anglicare Services of the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn and was based in Wagga Wagga. It offered a temporary foster care program, Care Force Youth Support Program, a community placement program, a children’s centre, a community centre and a counselling service. Bungarimbil Adolescent and Family Care Program has its origins in Bungarimbil Boys Home, which was operated by the Anglican Church at Tumbarumba from 1957 until 1983. From 1989 to 1996, Bungarimbil Adolescent and Family Care Program operated a residential care unit. Since 1997, the Program has focused on the provision of short term foster care. The Program is based in Wagga Wagga. According to Hassan’s history of Anglicare, after the closure of Bungarimbil in Tumbarumba, a new house was rented in Wagga Wagga and an adolescent and family program aimed at preventing family breakdown operated out of the facility (Hassan, p.34). It was

If you, or your family member, was a ward of the state, it is likely that there are some government records about their time in ‘care’. For detailed information about accessing ward records, see Searching in Your State which explains the system in each jurisdiction. Wardship records were created and kept as administrative records, and generally relate to matters such as court appearances, police records, admissions and discharges from institutions or foster care placements and maintenance payments by parents. During most of the twentieth century, wardship records were very bureaucratic. People accessing their records can be shocked and

Kirinari Hostel was established in 1967 to provide accommodation for secondary students who are living in Sydney. It was established by the Aboriginal Children’s Advancement Society, with Aboriginal Hostels Ltd taking over the running of the hostel in 1976. A second site was later opened in Newcastle, around 1971. Kirinari Hostel was mentioned in a 1979 Commonwealth Government report called Why are they in children’s homes: report of the ACOSS children’s home intake survey. According to research done by the staff of the Northern Territory Department of Health, it was a place where children from the Northern Territory were sent. The 1983-84 annual report of Aboriginal Hostels Ltd reported that children at Kirinari Hostel made a two-week visit to the Aboriginal community on Elcho Island in the Northern Territory. The children had spent two years planning and fundraising for this visit, and rec

Wirraminna Hostel was a family group home for Aboriginal boys opened by Aboriginal Hostels Limited at Essendon in 1973. Wirraminna was run by a married couple who acted as house parents to the boys who lived there. Typically there were five or six boys in residence at Wirraminna, although the hostel was reported to have capacity for up to 9 children. The children were aged between 5 and 15 years old. Many of them were wards of the state who had been placed at Wirraminna by the State Department. They attended local primary and high schools, and, according to annual reports published by Aboriginal Hostels Limited, participated in local sports groups. Wirraminna Hostel was run by Aboriginal Hostels Limited with assistance from the Victorian Departments for Community/Social Welfare, and the

Meerindoo Hostel was opened at Bairnsdale in 1972 as a hostel for Aboriginal students from regional communities in Eastern Victoria attending school in Bairnsdale. It had capacity for up to 12 students aged between 12 and 17 years old. At times children who were wards of the state we placed at Meerindoo. Many of the children who lived at Meerindoo Hostel came from the Lake Tyers Aboriginal Community and the Lakes Entrance area. The AHL annual reports suggests that at least some students remained at Merindoo throughout the school holidays. The 1975-76 report mentions students were taken on trips by Hostel staff during the holidays, including visits to their families. From approximately 1974 Meerindoo Hostel was operated by Aboriginal Hostels Limited (AHL) in partnership with

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, and the

Nindee Hostel was opened by the government at Beulah Park in 1971 as accommodation for primary and secondary school children aged between 7 and 16 years old. Most of the children at Nindee cam from remote areas, mostly from the Northern Territory. They attended schools in the Norwood area. Nindee Hostel was still operating in 2026 and was run by Aboriginal Hostels Limited as short term accommodation for Indigenous people living away from home. Nindee, meaning ‘educated’, was the first of a small number of hostels for Aboriginal young people opened during 1971. Luprina Hostel was another of these hostels that were financed by the Commonwealth Government to provide accommodation for Aboriginal children working or studying in the city and/or suburbs. Early reports about N

Luprina Hostel was opened by the government at Dudley Park in 1971. The Hostel was built to provide accommodation for up to 23 young women, between the ages of 16 to 30, who were working or studying in the city. Luprina Hostel was still operating in 2026 and was run by Aboriginal Hostels Limited as short term accommodation for Indigenous people living away from home. Luprina , meaning ‘place of rest’, was officially opened by the government on 3 May 1971. It was one of a small number of Hostels opened in 1971 that were financed by the Commonwealth Government. Nindee Hostel was another of these hostels that were created to provide accommodation for young Aboriginal people who were working or studying in the Adelaide. Luprina was purpose built at Dudley Park because of

This is a photograph of Kirinari student hostel at Sylvania, Sydney. It shows a large mural with images of fish, birds, snakes, and other wildlife painted on the side of a large brick building. This image was published in the Aboriginal Hostels Limited annual report for 1986-87.

Bennett House was the new name given to the East Perth Girls’ Home in 1952. It was a government-run transit hostel providing short-term accommodation for Aboriginal children and women from the country. In 1981, full responsibility for Bennett House was transferred to Aboriginal Hostels Ltd. Bennett House was the new name given to the East Perth Girls’ Home in September 1952. Its purpose at that time was to accommodate what the Department of Native Affairs termed ‘transient and outpatient native women and children’. In the State Solicitor’s Guide to Institutions Attended by Aboriginal People in Western Australia (p.42) this is interpreted to refer to Aboriginal women from missions, reserves and townships who were pregnant to non-Aboriginal men. The women were sent to Perth to await the birth of their babies. Over the years, Bennett House accommodated a range of children and young people, including a small number of students, brought to Perth to attend the East Perth state s

This is a photograph showing three people sitting at tables in the dining room at Nindee Hostel, Adelaide. The tables are small, each seating four people. Behind the tables is a serving hatch through to the kitchen. This image was published in the 1979-80 Annual Report of Aboriginal Hostels Limited with the caption “Nindee Hostel – South Australia. Spacious Dining Rooms provide pleasant conditions for Hostel residents”.

The Koorie index of names is a database created by Public Record Office Victoria which can be searched to locate references to Victorian Aboriginal people who are mentioned in some archival records that relate to Aboriginal affairs (1839-1946). This database is not accessible online and is only searchable on-site at the Victorian Archives Centre in North Melbourne. The Koorie index of names was developed by transcribing original archival records. It does not contain personal information about people named, but provides a references to the original archival record where that name appears. The information indexed includes: names of Aboriginal people names of non-Aboriginal people related to or associated with Aboriginal people names of Government missions and reserves where Aboriginal people were placed names of Government stations and depots associated with Aboriginal people places where Aboriginal pe

Nicklin Cottage Family Group Home, in Aspley, opened in 1960. It was run by the Methodist Church until 1977 when management of the home was transferred to the Uniting Church. Nicklin Cottage Family Group Home was licensed under the State Children Act 1911 on 27 October 1960 and then the Children’s Services Act 1965 on 4 August 1966. The Nicklin Cottage Family Group Home closed in 1984. Nicklin Family Group Home, a residential home for young people aged 12–17, operated on the same site from 2011 to 2016 under the management of the Uniting Church.

Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative Ltd is a community controlled not-for-profit organisation that was established in 1972 to respond to poor health and housing outcomes for Aboriginal people in Gippsland, Victoria. It opened the Meerindoo Hostel for Aboriginal students at Bairnsdale in 1972, and ran it (with support from Aboriginal Hostels Ltd) until 2014, when Meerindoo was replaced by the Nungurra Youth Crisis Accommodation Centre. The Cooperative was founded as the East Gippsland Aboriginal Women’s Group, then in 1975 changed its name to the East Gippsland Aboriginal Medical Services Cooperative Limited, and from 1978 has been known as Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative Limited.

The Oodnadatta Hostel, also known as the Kanyini Hostel, opened in Oodnadatta in 1970. It had capacity for up to 24 primary-school aged children. It was funded by the Commonwealth Government via Aborignal Hostels Limited, and run by the Save the Children Fund in consultation with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. The former superintendent of the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) Oodnadatta Children’s Home became the superintendent of the new hostel. The majority of children in the Hostel were transferred from the UAM Children’s Home at Oodnadatta. In 1985 Aboriginal Hostels Limited took over management of the Hostel from the Save the Children Fund. The Hostel closed around 1986.

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

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 photo of the Wirraminna Hostel, run by Aboriginal Hostels Limited, at Essendon, Melbourne. It shows a brick suburban cottage with white bay windows at the front. This image was published in the 1980 Aboriginal Hostels Limited annual report.

Riverbank, in Caversham, was established in 1960 by the Child Welfare Department as a secure detention facility with a work-skills focus for up to 33 teenage boys. By 1970, 43 boys could be accommodated and by 1979 over 1,000 boys had been admitted to Riverbank for an average of nine months. After discharge, boys were placed in supervised after-care (similar to parole). In 1993, Riverbank was transferred to the Ministry of Justice. Riverbank closed in 1996 and was re-commissioned as an adult prison in 1998. Riverbank was opened in 1960 by the Child Welfare Department (CWD). It had been some years in the planning, and was described in the CWD’s annual report (1958, in Signposts 2004, p.436) to be Australia’s first purpose-built maximum security reformatory for boys. Riverbank was to address the two tensions in youth offending: the welfare needs of young offenders, and their offending behaviours. The CWD aimed to have a ‘reformatory’ effect on the boys committed to Riverbank an

Nollamara Cottage was established around 1973 as a temporary Home for children transferred from Mogumber to Perth for schooling and other reasons, such as access to medical treatment in Perth. It was run by Mogumber until 1974, then the Mogumber Training Centre until 1980 and then Sister Kate’s Child and Family Care Services. Nollamara Cottage closed in 1985. Nollamara Cottage began around 1973, at 50 Carcoola Street, Nollamara, possibly on land that had been purchased by the Department of Native Welfare in 1972. Nollamara Cottage was run by a number of Methodist (and, after 1977), Uniting Church agencies under agreement with the Department of Community Welfare. In 1974, after Mogumber closed, the Mogumber Training Centre (MTC) took over from the Methodist Overseas Mission and in 1980 Sister Kate’s Child and Family Care Services took over from the MTC. Additional government funding was provided to Nollamara Cottage via Aboriginal Hostels Ltd. It is possible that many of the child

This is a copy of a photograph of boys in a dormitory at Castledare in Western Australia. It was published on a webpage about Castledare Boys’ Home.