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Children & Families
During January children from the inner suburbs were taken on day trips to nearby beaches, the Dandenongs and city theaters. These outings, limited to children between five and fourteen years of age, operated from Monday to Thursday for the whole month, involving about 1,100 children.
In preparation for the Family Centre Project, all BSL Youth & Children's services were discontinued and all workers given leave without pay and the option of returning to the new project in October 1972 (four did so). BSL Open Door policy was discontinued except for people requesting material aid (clothing and furniture). No new social work cases were taken and staff of the Social Work Service were allocated to the Family Centre (end of January) BSL_Family_Centre_Proposal_1972-5-15.pdf
Planning for the Family Centre Project, aiming to help the family as a total unit, began in April with the appointment of its head, Mrs Concetta Benn - "One of Melbourne’s most experienced social workers". The purpose of the project was to work intensively through an activities program with approximately seventy low income families. Read what was written by Concetta Benn about this in 'Action' September 1972
Premises for the Family Centre Project acquired with the purchase of the old Mission House of the Mission to Streets and Lanes behind the BSL's Head Office. This contained a burnt-out hall. A major contribution towards the establishment of the Centre was made in June by the estate of Paul Dehnert. (September)
Research worker for the Family Centre Project appointed (Michael Liffman). A grant from the Commonwealth Commission of Enquiry into Poverty enabled the appointment of a research assistant.
Family Centre Project, a three year action and research anti-poverty experiment, formally commenced in November with 56 families. At this time the sole activities were a sewing group and the coffee lounge, with mothers of families in the Centre producing clothing and linen for the families and for the Material Aid Service and improving social communication. However, the aim of the project was clear - to provide "60 of Melbourne's poorest families with considerable resources so that they can attain power over the social and economic conditions that affect their lives. The three main resources which are put at the disposal of these families are finance, personnel and a building. The financial resource takes the form of an income supplement which provides each family with a guaranteed minimum income at the level of the prevailing minimum wage. Personnel include 18 staff members equipped with varied qualifications and expertise including social work, research, youth work and teaching skills." Read was written by Concetta Benn about this in 'Action' September 1972
The BSL's Family Planning Clinic was phased out over 6 months, reducing to one weekly session and closing on 19 December. Over that time patients were referred to the most appropriate clinic and the closure coincided with the opening of a clinic by the Fitzroy Council in November. This was staffed by Dr Helen Church who had been the medical officer for the BSL’s evening clinic for the previous five years.
Community Issues
The Commonwealth Government established a Commission of Enquiry into Poverty under Professor Ronald Henderson of the University of Melbourne. In broad terms the Inquiry was to investigate the extent and distribution of poverty in Australia, and its causes. In addition it was to look at current alleviation programs, both public and private, alternative methods of reducing poverty in Australia and associated matters. Assisting Professor Henderson were social worker, Hayden Raysmith; housing expert, Andrew Burbridge; agricultural economist, Warwick Papst; statistician, Bruce Burraston; economist, Ian Manning; administrator, Maurice O’Keefe, and secretary, John Gibson.
The BSL hosted a one-day visit in April of 27 participants studying "Social Problems in Urban Development" in the Department of Foreign Affairs Course in Development Administration. The day included a bus tour of inner suburbs to examine the variety of housing development, and lectures ranged from the historical development of Melbourne as a city and the role of the Housing Commission in urban development, to the special housing problems associated with low income families and the aged, and citizen participation in the planning processes.
The BSL purchased two properties in Fitzroy in an attempt to stop people being forced out of inner areas. One was a small block of 10 flats on the corner of Fitzroy and Palmer Streets (later known as the Palmer Street flats), close to the Coolibah. Built for commercial purposes about 1968 it provided excellent accommodation for elderly people living on the pension and was eligible for the $2 for $1 subsidy under the Aged Persons Homes Act. This was the first stage of a planned development in the inner suburbs, to include a 40-bed hostel adjoining these flats (later to be known as Sumner House) and a similar project on land recently acquired in Gold Street, Clifton Hill (later known as Sambell Lodge, overlooking the Darling Gardens.
The second property purchased consisted of three terrace apartment houses in historic Glass Terrace in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, which had provided rooming house accommodation for 20 people for 40 or 50 years. Well and sympathetically run, the well-disposed owner Mrs Du Poula offered it to the BSL "at a very generous price" and purchased as a means of retaining rooms which would otherwise have been converted to private dwellings. The project was not subsidised by the Government, so no minimum age limit applied to the residents who were selected on their needs such as people not of pensionable age such as invalids and single itinerant people. Read what was said in 'Action' June 1973
Following the outcome of the Federal Election on 2 December 1972, the Executive Director, David Scott, wrote:
"As the new Australian Government begins to implement its many ideas for improved social security and welfares services, voluntary organisations like the Brotherhood have to decide the areas of need that they should concentrate on. In the Brotherhood we think our most useful tasks are experimenting with new ways of helping disadvantaged people to participate more fully in society; contributing our ideas to Government and public thinking and providing high quality services in areas of need, such as care of the aged, that have been left predominantly to the voluntary agencies."
Monday Conference, an ABC television (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Current Affairs/Topical/Talk Program presented an episode in which the social welfare scheme and the role of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence in the community were debated.
Fundraising & Resources
Major flooding across Melbourne on 18 February 1972 had a severe impact on the BSL’s Salvage Division, with three feet of water damaging "a terrific bulk of clothing" waiting to be processed for distribution and which had to be thrown out.
First regional salvage centre opened on 18 May at 520 Centre Road, Bentleigh. This Brotherhood Bazaar was a collection and selling point for donated goods, "featuring a small art gallery, an extensive area for books, antiques and bric-a-brac, a modern clothing department and a separate section for furniture and household goods".
Pilot project Home Collection Service established in Bentleigh. Commencing with a zone of 8,500 families, for six months the Brotherhood offered a dependable four-weekly collection service to the householders in the area, collecting clothing, household goods, aluminium & steel cans, paper, bottles and other waste products suitable for recycling.
Salvage operations for the benefit of the BSL included operating a depot for steel can collection as well as recycling steel cans from the football grounds - a project subsidised by the Steel Can People
Annual fundraising events took place - the Market Fair at the Melbourne Town hall (19 October); the Village Fair at G.K. Tucker Park, Carrum Downs (20 October); the Country Fair at St Laurence Park, Lara (10 November)
Harrietville and Glen Iris Auxiliaries closed down and three new groups were established - Bentleigh (formed to run the new Brotherhood Bazaar), Lara and Glenroy. Lara and Waverley Auxiliaries open their own shops, with Waverley moving from the old service station in Stephenson's Road, Mount Waverley, to new premises at 11 Hamilton Walk.
Material & Financial Support
Material Aid Service established in Fitzroy at 75 Brunswick Street, replacing emergency relief by the social work department and providing clothing and furniture to low-income people in the inner urban area. Based broadly on the "principles" of the Family Centre Project the service was innovative in comparison to other material aid services provided at the time, in that the main service aim was to provide material aid to vulnerable families on the basis of the social determinants of their need and not on their economic value. The service expanded to provide material aid to people from all over Melbourne and country Victoria. A special auxiliary was developed to support the work of the service. (November) Read what was said in 'Action' March 1973 BSL_Income_Supplementation_Services_1972-1996.pdf
Older People
The second stage of St Laurence Court, Bendigo - a new 19-bed hostel and 28 new flats, taking total accommodation to 75 people - was opened by the Federal Minister for Social Services. Traditional Christmas Dinner was served at the Coolibah Centre to 175 pensioners living in Fitzroy/Collingwood, and a further 20 delivered to those too ill to travel to the centre.
Organisational aspects (BSL)
A new two-storey building was opened and the Chapel of St Mark dedicated at a ceremony at 67 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, on Saturday 13 November The Minister for Health (Mr. Cameron) opened the block and the Archbishop of Melbourne (Dr. Woods) dedicated the chapel. The building included the completion of the Coolibah Centre (including craft room, television and sitting rooms, showers, a communal laundry, a large dining area, sick bay, clothing store, changing room with shower, chiropody section, an additional sitting room and offices for welfare workers). In addition there were clubrooms for the young, a projector room and a rooftop playground. Read an excerpt from the Age 15 November 1972
People
Miss Jess Sumner retired as Welfare Officer after 24 years service, having begun as manager of the Coolibah Club in 1948
Presentations & Publications
Archbishop Geoffrey Sambell returned from Perth to preach at the BSL’s Foundation Festival at Evensong, Christ Church, South Yarra on 9 December
Two joint papers on housing finance and policies on rehabilitation of old housing stock (released in conjunction with the Fitzroy Ecumenical Centre)
Publications included:
- Financial Assistance for Vulnerable Families, a proposal concerned with the provision of immediate payments and recommended administrative changes to speed up payments.
- The Have Nots: A study of 150 low income families (Judith O'Neill & Rosemary Nairn)
- Why so Harsh on the Unemployed, a proposal to increase unemployment benefits prompted by the high level of unemployment.
- The powerless poor : a comprehensive guide to poverty in Australia (Peter Hollingworth - Stockland Press) Read a book review from 'Action' December 1972
- Unemployment: The facts and effects (David Griffiths)
Articles included:
- David Scott The brotherhood and politics in Brotherhood Action
- "The Age" included a one-page supplement on the Brotherhood of St Laurence on Wednesday 15 November 1972 (page 14)
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