History

drummond street services (since 2010), formerly Drummond Street Relationship Centre (1996-2010), formerly Citizen’s Welfare Service of Victoria (1947-1996) and the Charity Organisation Society (1887-1947), has a remarkable history as one of the longest serving welfare organisations in Victoria and one of the first family relationship centres in Australia. An examination of its history not only provides a unique historical account of its role in the development of welfare and social work practice but also traces the major social issues and events which impacted on the lives of Victorian families for well over a century. Throughout its history, drummond street services has had a proud tradition of independence of thought and will, without subservience to church or state. This independence has allowed a distinctive role in advocacy and success in numerous instances of charity and government policy reform. In so many areas of social work practice its origins can be seen within the documented history of this organisation and the services it has developed and delivered.

The death of John Jackman

The impetus for its foundation arose through public outcry over the death of destitute casual worker and sometime seamen, John Jackman.  On February 9th, 1887, Jackman was discovered by a local Constable lying close to death in a lodging house in A’Beckett Street, Melbourne. The Constable managed to get Jackman into a cab and take him to the Melbourne Hospital. Upon arrival Jackman was examined in the cab by the acting medical officer, Dr Wilkinson who diagnosed peritonitis and attempted to admit him. Dr Wilkinson soon discovered that the hospital has no beds because of an outbreak of Typhus. Further attempts were made to have Jackman admitted to the Alfred Hospital but they too were in the same situation with no beds. When Dr Wilkinson returned to the cab he discovered that Jackman had died.

The coronial inquiry that followed Jackman’s death fuelled an ongoing public outcry over the weakness of the prevailing hospital and charity system. This public outcry precipitated a public meeting held on the 12th May 1887, and attended by the leaders of all the then Charity Organisations. At this meeting Professor Morris (a Professor of Modern Languages at Melbourne University) successfully proposed the establishment of the Melbourne Charity Organisation Society (CSO). The principal aim of the SERVICE was to organise charity and not just be one. This involved working with the network of charitable providers to facilitate a change from indiscriminate charity to a model of what we now refer to casework with individuals and families. This casework was informed by empirical research and the efficient deployment of scarce resources. The Service’s army of volunteers and paid Inquiry officer’s carried out the casework which involved linking with other charities, dispensing a variety of relief, services and investigating cases to ensure that the needs of the deserving were met rather than the “impostor, cadger and mendicant”.

From foundation to the early 1950’s

This was period of dramatic reform of charity and the Service convened the first Australasian Conference on Charity 1890. This was a period of economic depression and chronic unemployment and poverty. The Service believed at the time that the relief measures put in place at the time were pauperising the poor and set about developing a range of labour market programs. Others would argue that the Service underestimated the nature and level of poverty impacting at the time. This at times led it into conflict with other charities, the government and the organised unemployed themselves. In addition, the Service worked towards hospital reform particularly in the area of administrative structure. In 1922 the Hospital and Charities Boards was established. Throughout that period the Service provided inquiry officers to several metropolitan hospitals to ensure beds for those who needed hospitalisation.

The Service during this time fulfilled a unique function by being up to date on major social issues both in Australia and around the world. They published two Journals – the Charity Review and – the Other Half which ceased in 1937 along with a range of conference proceedings which they convened throughout their history.

The Service increasingly became involved in child welfare issues and then with the onset of the war the rehabilitation of returned soldiers. The CSO administered the Australian Patriotic Fund which came in conflict with is organised charity model and at the end of the war the classical charity period was in decline.

In the 1920’s saw the opening of Morris House the Service’s new location and the collocation of other charities. This heralded a time of cooperation between charities and the standardising of social work practices by the promotion of social case work.

With the onset of the great depression in the 1920’s the Service expanded its role in the distribution of relief particularly to single women but still maintained its political emphasis on employment over financial aid.

In the late 1920’s the Service supported the establishment of the first hospital almonry which was a major step towards a university social work course. The Service was the major provider of casework training and was a prime agitator for the first social work course at Melbourne University up until the expansion in the 1950’s.

In the post-Depression years, the Society expanded its casework and social work services to foster care placements. With the Second World War saw the Service expand its services further to the rehabilitation of soldiers and their families.

The end of the war brought the advent of the welfare state and new concepts of social improvement. The state usurped many of the roles of charity with many not surviving. The Service’s long-held position as a key trainer and institute of social work ensured its viability but this role also soon diminished. It was these changes which brought about the name change in 1947 to the Citizens Welfare Society of Victoria (CWS).

The Early 1950’s to mid-1960’s.

This was a time of great uncertainty for the Service with the advent of the welfare state and it had to carve out a new structure and purpose. New areas of work included an elderly counselling service, a hearing clinic and a residential service for young women but these ceased because of a need to consolidate the Service work into new areas of funding. In 1957, Morris House was sold and temporary premises were found in Victoria Parade.

With the passing of the 1959 Matrimonial Causes Act and the Commonwealth funded marriage and family counselling, this became the dominant work of the Service. The Service became an approved provider in 1961 and it began to settle on this discrete area of social work. This heralded the shift away from its external role with the broader welfare sector to a primary focus on service delivery.

The mid-1960’s to the Present.

In 1965 the Service acquired and moved into new premises in Drummond Street Carlton. The work of the Service focused on relationship issues of couples and individuals and their children. This work encompassed transactional analysis, movement therapy, play therapy, parent training and pre-marital counselling. In the 1980’s there was a shift in approach of the service to include psychodynamic psychotherapy. The Service gained specialist expertise in the area infertility and its impact on marriage an in 1981 published an Infertility Resources Handbook.

Throughout this time the service has maintained its education and training focus delivering a range of courses and supervision to professionals in the field. For example, using psychoanalytic theory as its foundation, the 30 week Couple States of Mind programme is a clinical and theoretical exploration of the formation and development of couple, and family relationships.  It is also a forum for thinking how changing social and political influences impact relationships, including issues of ethnicity, race, gender and sexuality.

As part of the agency’s ongoing initiative for improvement, innovation and professional relevance in its offerings, the course is under going a review of its content and teaching methodology.