Learn about institutions by choosing a state and then selecting an institution to open information from Find & Connect.
Government inquiries and apologies have highlighted the role of non-government organisations in adoptions, and in the provision of welfare more generally in Australian history.
Faith-based organisations have also played a considerable role through a variety of outreach activities established by parent churches. In some areas, more general citizens’ committees formed, such as benevolent societies, ladies’ aid committees, and so on.
In the nineteenth century, churches were sometimes the only organisations that offered assistance to Australian families. Governments began to take a greater interest in social welfare from the mid- to late-1900s. Church organisations continued to offer a wide range of welfare services in addition to those provided by the states.
The history of healthcare, including maternity care, in the NT is substantially different to the rest of Australia. Any initial services were completely disrupted by World War II evacuations. After the war, no doctors were permitted to work in private practice until 1955. Adoptions that took place prior to 1955 would have been handled through the NT Administration. Conditions were rudimentary and took many years to become re-established; it wasn’t until 1966 that a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology was appointed.
The peak years for closed adoptions in Australia was 1971, with more than 8,000 registered in the rest of the nation but only 68 in the NT. It is highly likely that because the NT was such a small community, many unmarried mothers went interstate to have their babies.
Ellen Kettle, Health services in the Northern Territory: A history, 1824–1970, 2 vols, Northern Australia Research Unit, Australian National University, Darwin, 1991.