b'Find out moreHelping people understand their pastSally and Judy (pictured above) donate many hours of their time each week to the Uniting Heritage Service.The service supports people and their familiesA chance conversation with a member of the who were adopted, spent time with foster careUniting Heritage Service team made us aware providers, in childrens homes, in family groupof Unitings large, important collection of homes or in orphanages.records, dating back to the 1890s. If this out-of-home care was provided by theWe indicated our interest in becoming former Presbyterian, Methodist or Unitingvolunteers and started in 2021. Churches, the Heritage Service can help.It is widely known that across Australia, The Heritage Service rely heavily on thehistorical records from such institutions are support of volunteers to progress our work often incomplete or missing altogether. with records.This makes it critical to ensure that surviving Judy works with minute books created by therecords are carefully preserved and then volunteer committees that oversaw the day- indexed, so the information they contain can to-day operations of the childrens homes,be easily accessed by case workers, former dating from the 1890s to the 1980s.residents and their families. Sallys focus is photographs from theWe feel privileged to be working with such babies homes, specifically images takenpersonal records, and greatly respect the by Mothercraft nurses who worked in theprivacy and experiences of the children and institutions from the 1930s to the 1970s andfamilies whose names and photographskept personal albums of their times there.we encounter. Here, Sally and Judy have written some We enjoy volunteering with the Uniting of their reflections.Heritage Service team and hope that our We have been friends for over 10 years.contributions will help in the process of piecing We both love history and met while workingtogether the stories of the children who spent and volunteering in the archives of one oftime in these Homes.Melbournes oldest schools.'