Organisation St Joseph's Foundling Hospital (1901 - 1975)

St Joseph's Foundling Hospital was established by the Sisters of St Joseph in 1901 at Broadmeadows.

Abandoned babies and infanticide had long been problems in Victoria, and were the topic of much public discussion throughout the second half of the nineteenth century.

Until the Catholic foundling home was founded in 1901, the Victorian Infant Asylum (founded in 1877) and the Neglected Children's Department were the only institutions to receive babies.

The Sisters of St Joseph opened the Foundling Hospital at the request of Archbishop Carr, in May 1901. The Archbishop set out the purpose of the new institution in a letter to the Age, stating that it was to assist 'erring but often innocent young women', and stressed that women with more than one 'illegitimate' child would only be admitted to the hospital in 'very exceptional cases'.

In the words of Barnard and Twigg, the aims of the Foundling Hospital were to '"save" children from a life of vice and poverty while allowing women to "hide" their shame and then get on with a respectable life'.

The Sisters of St Joseph selected the property known as 'Kerrsland' at Broadmeadows for the new hospital. In the early years, the Sisters struggled to operate the service with very limited funds.

Infant mortality rates in the first three years of the Hospital's operation were at 34%. 61% of these deaths were from 'summer diarrhoea', gastro-enteritis contracted from contaminated bottles. In February 1903, seven babies died within fifteen days. From 1904, the infant mortality rate at St Joseph's dropped, and was reported at being below the rate for Victoria as a whole by 1908.

The St Joseph's Foundling Hospital was home not only to illegitimate babies born at the institution. It had some children living there who were over the age of five, according to records from 1911, a year which saw forty-eight children placed in the home. Barnard and Twigg analysed the records from that year to demonstrate children's journeys after St Joseph's: at least 25% of these children returned to their families; 14% were placed in adoptive or foster homes; 6% went from Broadmeadows into Catholic orphanages.

During the years of World War One, an army training camp was established close to the Foundling Hospital.

By 1922, the Advocate reported that the Foundling Hospital was accommodating children as old as six or seven. St Anthony's Home for Little Children was opened that same year to cater for older children and relieve the overcrowding at Broadmeadows.

In 1931, the Children's Welfare Department asked the Sisters to erect extra accommodation for sixty wards of state, and for nurses to care for the children. The Foundling Hospital began to provide mothercraft training that same year.

In September 1956, St Joseph's Foundling Hospital was declared an approved children's home under the Children's Welfare Act 1954.

The Home closed in 1975 and the Sisters subsequently established a foster care service in Glenroy, which was called St Joseph's Babies' Home.

In 1997, records of the Sisters of St Joseph were transferred to MacKillop Family Services. These included records of the various orphanages, homes and other residences run by the Sisters of St Joseph. While custodianship of the records about people in 'care' became the responsibility of MacKillop Family Services at this point, it was formally agreed that the intellectual property in these records would not change hands.

Events

1901 - 1975

St Joseph's Foundling Hospital is situated in Broadmeadows. Location: Broadmeadows

Timeline

 1901 - 1975 St Joseph's Foundling Hospital
       1975 - 1985 St Joseph's Babies' Home
             1985 - 1997 St Joseph's Babies' and Family Service
                   1997 - MacKillop Family Services

Books

• Barnard, Jill; Twigg, Karen, Holding on to Hope: a history of the founding agencies of MacKillop Family Services 1854-1997, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2004. Details
• Davis, Donna with Amy Willesee, Sins of the mothers: a memoir of abandonment, love and redemption, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2006. Details
• Flanagan, Maureen, Along the way, Lexington Avenue Press, Copacabana, NSW, 2002. Details
• Murray, Suellen, John Murphy, Elizabeth Branigan, Jenny Malone, After the orphanage: life beyond the children's home, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 2009. Details
• Szablicki, Ryszard, Orphanage boy: through the eyes of innocence, New Holland Publishers (Australia), Frenchs Forest, NSW, 2007. Details

Online Resources

• Peace for the babies of Will Will Rook, The Age, A ceremony was held in 1996 to remember the 491 babies who died at the Broadmeadows orphanage and were buried in unmarked graves at Will Will Rook Cemetery from 1901 to 1942., 15 August 1996, http://www.bourkeaccommodation.com.au/bourke-accommodation-news/1996/8/15/peace-for-the-babies-of-will-will-rook/. Details
• 'A Piece of the Story': National Directory of Records of Catholic organisations caring for children separated from their families, A research project undertaken by the Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission and the Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes, Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission & Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes, November 1999, http://catholicsocialservices.org.au/system/files/Directory+-+edited+10+Dec+2001.pdf. Details
• 'Name withheld (submission no 166)', in Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care: Submissions received by the committee as at 17/3/05, This submission describes the author's experiences in a number of Victorian institutions., Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sub166.pdf. Details
• 'Shortkids Downunder (submission no 121)', in Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care: Submissions received by the committee as at 17/3/05, Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/clac_ctte/completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist.htm. Details
• Donnelly, Joan, 'Ms Joan Donnelly, Submission no 264', in Inquiry Into Institutional Care: Submissions received as at 17/03/05, This submission to the inquiry describes the author's placement history at a number of institutions in Victoria., Commonwealth of Australia, 18 October 2003, http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/clac_ctte/completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sub264.pdf. Details
• Hughes, Gary, Polio vaccine tested at orphanages, The Age, 25 October 2004, http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/24/1098556293576.html?from=storylhs. Details
• Milliken, Robert, 'Vaccines tested on Australian orphans', The Independent, 11 June 1997, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/vaccines-tested-on-australian-orphans-1255311.html. Details
• Sheedy, A.J., 'Mr Anthony Sheedy (submission no 283)', in Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care: Submissions received by the committee as at 17/3/05, http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist.htm. Details
• Swain, Shurlee, 'Broadmeadows Babies Home', in eMelbourne: the city past and present, Encyclopedia of Melbourne online, The University of Melbourne, 2008, http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00241b.htm. Details