The St Mary’s Hostel was a hostel providing accommodation for up to 20 young women working in the Geelong area. It was initially run by The Legion of Mary, and from 1964 came under the administration of the Sisters of the Holy Angels. The hostel was located in a building called “Hawthorne” at 39 Skene…
The Legion of Mary is a Catholic organisation of lay women whose members give voluntary service to the church. It was founded in Dublin, Ireland, in 1921, and arrived in Australia in 1932. In Victoria, The Legion of Mary ran Myra House in Melbourne and the St Mary’s Hostel for girls in Geelong, both opened…
The Sisters of the Holy Angels are a Catholic congregation founded in Sri Lanka in 1903. They came to Australia in 1964 in order to open a convent in Victoria, and to run the St Mary’s Hostel for working girls in Geelong.
The Presbyterian Sisterhood Home, in Warrnambool, western Victoria was established around 1901. It was a refuge for ‘girls in distress’ and their babies. The Presbyterian Sisterhood was founded by the Rev. Donald A. Cameron in around 1901, and was closely connected to St John’s Presbyterian Church, Warrnambool. The Home was located in the Manse next…
Training Homes (also known as Training Schools) were institutions where children and young people could learn habits of hard work and respectability, as well as skills suited to the workforce. In the early twentieth century, the work skills usually involved domestic service for girls and farm labour for boys. Later on the occupations considered suitable…
The Catholic Family Welfare Bureau – Archdiocese of Melbourne was previously known as the Catholic Social Service Bureau. It was a Catholic social work organisation that administered applications for children to be admitted to Catholic children’s Homes in Victoria. It also counselled single mothers and arranged foster care placements and adoptions. The Catholic Family Welfare…
St Joseph’s Industrial School was established in 1865 by the Sisters of Mercy, Geelong Congregation. St Joseph’s opened in the grounds of the Convent of Mercy, Geelong and accommodated around 20 to 30 girls. The school was for girls from 8 to 16 years old to finish their education and receive training in domestic service…
The Sisters of Mercy, Geelong Congregation, a Catholic religious order of women from Ireland, was established in 1859. The Sisters provided care for girls at St Augustine’s Boys’ Orphanage before opening Our Lady’s Orphanage and St Joseph’s Industrial School for girls. In 1907 the Sisters of Mercy started to consolidate the number of congregations across…
Welfare House was a convalescent Home for mothers and children, on the corner of Alma Road and Chapel Street in East St Kilda. The Red Cross leased the property from around 1946 and until around 1953. Initially Welfare House provided accommodation for children of ex-servicemen whose mothers were in hospital. From around 1948, Welfare House…
Edgecliffe, Red Cross Convalescent Home was located on Beach Road, Hampton. The Red Cross took over the property from the Australian Army in early 1944, to use it for the ‘recreation and well-being of convalescent girls’. (Previously, the building belonged to the Royal Children’s Hospital, and was used for convalescent children.) It could accommodate from…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
