1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969
Children & Families
Morven Holiday Home provides "tired or convalescent mothers and their children with a restful holiday", as well as holidays for elderly people and camping holidays for children in the Morven grounds arranged by voluntary leaders (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.9).
Community Issues
Food for Peace changes name to Community Aid Abroad (CAA). David Scott appointed Associate Director of the Brotherhood and part-time (but primarily) CAA Director in May 1962 with salary funded by Brotherhood of St Laurence as a Brotherhood contribution to international social service (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.13; The Brotherhood News, September 1969 (No.186) p.3).
BSL staff and residents of Carrum Downs & St Laurence Park, Lara constitute a CAA Group. Their contributions plus donations made to the BSL for overseas aid provide a welfare worker in a slum area in Poona and finance the visits to India of 3 young Australians to work in youth work camps organised by Service Civil International. One of these was a member of the Brotherhood’s Children’s Centre staff who spent time in a nursery for Tibetan refugee children.
BSL's social worker withdrawn from West Heidelberg to review the 18 months' experiment in a locally based service. "It is already clear that the lessons learned from the West Heidelberg project will have much more enduring value than the actual work performed there." (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.6).
Fundraising & Resources
A resident couple in the Carrum Downs Settlement established the MET-L-WIK Industry, making metal wicks for kerosene appliances. Halfway through winter over 500 dozen had been sold to hardware stores, contributing to the income of the Settlement. (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.2).
Voluntary helpers in the Salvage Division set up and run a Theatrical Hiring Section as a fundraising innovation in addition to the introduction of sales of second-hand furniture at nominal prices. (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.12).
New Auxiliaries formed at Ringwood and Warrandyte (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.13).
Material & Financial support
The second Christmas toy sales were attended by 170 families (BSL 1964, Annual Report, p.5).
Older People
A gift "from a Melbourne friend" of £15,000 and a legacy of £9,000 enabled the purchase of a house in Box Hill (at 32 Kangerong Road) and the work of extending it to care for 15-20 frail aged. (Accommodation of this type did not attract a Commonwealth Government subsidy.) This property was named Carinya (The Brotherhood News, June 1964 (No.165) p.4; BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.1).
Organisational aspects (BSL)
The gift of Avalon historic homestead and 80 acres of land facing Corio Bay officially handed over to the Brotherhood of St Laurence by Mr & Mrs Richard Austin in October. The BSL decided it would be used as "a conference and educational centre focusing attention on the economic and social problems that confront society and the Church in this era of rapid change" (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.10).
"The adjoining paddocks to the homestead are cropped and contribute to the running costs" (BSL 1965, Annual Report, p.8).
The Australian Frontier organisation was formed following the 1961 National Conference of Churches, with concerns similar to those of the BSL in relation to society and the Church. The decision was made that the two organisations join together in a common program in Victoria and three members of Australian Frontier joined the Avalon committee to plan activities for 1963 (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.10).
Members of the Avalon Committee were The Rev. G.K. Tucker, The Rt. Rev. G.T. Sambell, The Venerable R. Dann, Dr. J.R. Darling, Messrs. R. Austin, F. Crean MHR, A. Clunies-Ross, J. Reeves, J. Webb, D. Scott.
People
Jess Millott, after 11 years as a voluntary helper, took up the position of Coolibah Club manageress at the start of 1962 and Jess Sumner took up "full time welfare work amongst the aged" (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.5).
Geoffrey Sambell consecrated as Bishop ("Long association with BSL will end" (The Brotherhood News, September 1969 (No.186) p.2).
Presentation & Publications
Publication of Leisure: A Study of a New Housing Estate (David Scott & Robert Uren) "This was a response to newspaper articles over a period of time characterising the new housing estates as social deserts; the study aimed to ascertain the real situation." Published by F.W. Cheshire, it was supported by a grant of £200 from the Myer Foundation that allowed the edition of 1,000 copies to be sold at a price permitting a wide circulation (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.16; Magree C (ed.) 1993, Looking forward, looking back, p.11).
A survey of the economic circumstances of unemployed families was published with an analysis of unemployment benefits and suggestions of increased rates of benefits (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.16).
Refugees & Settlement
European Australian Christian Fellowship (EACF, later to become known as the Ecumenical Migration Centre) formally established as a commission of the Victorian Council of Churches, with Bishop Geoffrey Sambell, Director of the BSL, as Convenor. Its aim was to serve the needs of migrant communities in Melbourne's inner suburbs. The work depended on building friendship networks between the refugees and local residents within a Christian framework in order to overcome the sense of loneliness and isolation. Although this quickly developed into an outreach into the migrant community in general, the emphasis at the start was firmly upon youth, on community-based social and sporting activities, with some individual work (BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.1, 11; BSL 1963, Annual Report, p.20).
EACF's first full-time worker appointed and BSL gives a weekly grant and an office at 67 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy (October). The office was located at the BSL until November 1965 (Langfield M. 1996, Espresso bar to EMC, pp.5-6).
Young People
The Youth Club "has a number of outside interests - once a month films are screened for members of the Coolibah Club, the young offenders group at Pentridge Gaol, and a Mental Hygiene Clinic" ((BSL 1962, Annual Report, p.9).
With the closure of Fitzroy Police & Citizen's Club for Youth (1962-1963), the Brotherhood became the major provider of this service for teenagers in the district. Two program and activity leaders joined the staff - Margaret Woodhouse and Graham Bull. Youth leaders also supported members who appeared in court cases (BSL 1963, Annual Report, p.10).
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