St Mary's Home for the Deaf

In the late 19th century community groups like churches and rotary clubs provided the care for people with disabilities. Across Australia, they established schools and large homes, the later often run like hospitals. There were too many to name but examples include Yooralla kindergarten for “physically weak and defective children” (The Herald, Tuesday November 12th 1918), which started in Drummond Street in Carlton, Melbourne and educated children who were outpatients at the nearby Children’s Hospital. In Perth, Claremont Mental Hospital (1904 to 1986) had up to 1000 people with dementia and intellectual disability, as well as people with severe psychiatric conditions.