Victoria Memorial Home Invercargill

Dates: 1897-1940s

Victoria Home opened in 1897 at a Cottage in Mary Street. It was founded by the Association for the Help of Friendless Girls, which had an association with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and was run by a trust board. It later moved into a large rented cottage in Tweed Street and in 1903 into a purpose built home in Tweed Street named Victoria Memorial Home. The board aimed to provide “a home and situation for friendless girls where possible, to assist unfortunate and fallen girls in trouble, and to provide a home for children where no other is available”. Most of the residents were adult women, and the children in care may have been theirs. In the 1940s, with the advent of social security provision in public hospitals for maternity care, the home changed to concentrate on care of the elderly. It was taken over by Presbyterian Support in 1976.