Salvation Army Australia, Records of Homes in the former Eastern Territory is a collection relating to Salvation Army children’s institutions in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. The Salvation Army also holds records relating to maternity Homes and adoptions conducted in its Eastern Territory. The surviving records vary for each institution however…
The Salvation Army, Australian Territory was established in 1880 when the first members of the church came to Australia. From 1880 until 1907, the Salvation Army Australasian Territory comprised the church’s operations in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. In 1907, the Australian Territory was separated from New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. In 1921, the…
Woorabinda, 170 kilometres south-west of Rockhampton, Queensland, was gazetted as an Aboriginal Reserve in 1927; the reserve status remained in place until 1986. Additionally, in 1951 Woorabinda was gazetted as an Industrial School institution for the maintenance of State Children under the Children Services Act. Consequently the Woorabinda dormitories housed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander…
Infant Life Protection was a program that emerged in response to rising concerns about ‘baby farming’ in the late nineteenth century – this was the practice of infants, usually born to single mothers, being placed in private homes to be nursed and boarded, for a fee. There was a very high mortality rate for ex-nuptial…
The Brisbane General Hospital was established in 1867 on a parcel of land in Herston. In 1966 its name changed to the Royal Brisbane Hospital. In 2003, it merged with the Royal Women’s Hospital to form the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH). The first facility at Brisbane General Hospital for patients with psychiatric issues…
Mental deficiency is a term that was commonly used to describe intellectual or developmental disability in the first half of the twentieth century. It was regarded as a disease, and the popular belief was that people who were diagnosed as ‘mentally defective’ needed to be segregated from the community, to receive special ‘care’ and treatment….
“Correspondence files, single number series with ‘B’ [Child Endowment] prefix” is an archival series held by the National Archives of Australia. Its series number is A885. The records in A885 relate to child endowment and family allowances. The records were created by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services. Many of the files document the payment…
In 1951, a British Home Office official named John Moss inspected and reported on Australian and New Zealand institutions where British child migrants were living. Moss spent July-December 1951 travelling around Australia and to New Zealand, inspecting institutions and making recommendations. His report, known as the Moss Report, was submitted to the British government in…
The Salvation Army Australia Museum holds historical memorabilia, photographs and records related to the operations of the Salvation Army in Australia, including material relating to some of the children’s Homes it ran. The Museum also holds a digitised and searchable complete set of the Salvation Army magazine, War Cry. The Museum is located in Melbourne,…
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is an international convention, setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children. The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989 (the 30th anniversary of the Declaration of the Rights of…
Dec 17, 2025
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Nov 15, 2024