Malmesbury Receiving Home

Malmesbury Receiving Home, run by the government, opened in West Hobart in the early 1960s in the building of the former Malmesbury Girls’ Home. It provided temporary accommodation for children who were wards of the state or supervised in other ways by the Social Welfare Department. In the early 1980s, Malmesbury Receiving Home became a family group Home.

A married woman managed Malmesbury with the assistance of her husband, who was in paid employment outside the Home. In return, they received free accommodation.

The Home provided accommodation for new wards of the state or children on remand from the courts until the Department found a more permanent placement for them. It also took in children requiring temporary accommodation under the Domestic Service Assistance Act and in transit between homes.

The Department changed the name from Malmesbury Receiving Home to Malmesbury Family Group Home in the early 1980s apparently to emphasise its domestic environment and the fact that some children stayed in the Home longer if they got on well with the Receiving Home Keeper.