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| Benevolent Asylum, Ballarat 1861 |
Victoria Adoption, Wards of the State and Benevolent Societies
Adoption
Adoption was not formally regulated by the State of Victoria until 1928. Before then, children were put up for adoption through the churches and sometimes through the courts. Most records created after 1928 are closed as they may contain personal and private information about individuals who may still be alive.
There are no specific collections dedicated to recording children who were adopted until 1928. However, some records may exist because a child first spent time in the custody of the State or a private institution before being adopted.
Search: Wards of State 1864-1918 (Public Record Office Victoria)
These ward registers list children (aged up to 17) committed to the care of the State, either because they had been convicted of a crime or deemed ‘neglected’ by a court. The registers are a central record of where each child was placed.
The ward registers might record:
- name
- sex
- date of birth
- birth place religion
- ability to read or write
- date of commitment (to State custody)
- committing bench (which court ordered the custody)
- date of admission (to the institution)
- term (in the case of criminal convictions, children were ‘sentenced’ to live in reformatory schools)
- cause of commitment (convicted or neglected)
- whether parents are living
- vaccination details
- where stationed (‘neglected’ children were sent to children’s homes, placed with families or apprenticed to trades)
- licensing out details (children were ‘licensed’ to work)
- details of discharge
There are two searches available on this page:
- Search by name (1894 and earlier) which will take you to index with links to digital records.
- Search by year (1894-1918) this will take you to the digital registers for a specific year. You must know the approximate year range when the child was in custody and look through the name registers.
Search: Ballarat Benevolent Society Register of Inmates 1860-1897 (Ballarat Historical Society)
Quite often Benevolent Society's also took in orphans and wards. This transcription of the inmate registers of the Ballarat Benevolent Society is an ongoing project by Brett Weinberg.
This comprehensive index lists:
- Surname
- Given Name
- Number
- Occupation
- Place of Residence
- Birth Place
- Age (Years)
- Parents' Names
- Married or Single
- Issue
- Arrived in Colony
- Religion
- Ground of Application
- By Whom Recommended
- Date of Admission
- Period for which admitted (Days)
- Discharge date
- Discharge Cause
- Died
- Remarks
- Register Page
- Register of Inmates
- Register Year or Event Year
Search: Bendigo Benevolent Asylum - General Return of Children in Care 1861-1862 (Bendigo Family History Group)
The Bendigo Benevolent Asylum was established in 1860 to care for the destitute people on the Bendigo Goldfield; not everyone found gold and became rich! If the father deserted or died the family were often reduced to near starvation and the mother and children would be given a few weeks care in the Asylum. Many of these families would then be given outdoor relief. The Benevolent Asylum was never intended to be an orphanage although a few years later, for a short time, there was an Industrial School established within its boundaries
Pictured: Benevolent Asylum, Ballarat 1861; Photographers: Solomon & Bardwell; Courtesy: State Library of Victoria
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