Australian Orphanage Museum

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Australian Orphanage Museum Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Australian Orphanage Museum, Museum, 351 Ryrie Street, Geelong.

The Australian Orphanage Museum (AOM) is dedicated to exhibiting authentic social histories about the experience of growing up in orphanages, children’s homes, missions and other institutions, including foster care, in Australia.

11/10/2026

The Brophy cross. A lot of the boys at Father Brophy’s Home for Boys at Kepler Street in Warrnambool tattooed themselves with a cross so they could find each other down the track.

Apparently, the home has NO records of Peter. Luckily, he had camera in 1972 and took a lot of photos of the boys - and he can still name many of them today!

Thank you, Peter, for generously donating your photo collection to the Australian Orphanage Museum. This will help us tell the story of Brophy’s Home for Boys and may help other Brophy Boys who are seeking information in the future.

The museum is open Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10am-4pm. Group bookings are welcome.



07/10/2026

This is Australia's hidden history. Go on a thought-provoking journey at the unique Australian Orphanage Museum. See the real objects and real stories - and learn about the lived experience behind them.

Established by Care Leavers, the museum contains hundreds of items from Orphanages, Children’s Homes, Missions and Foster Care throughout Australia. Every photograph and artefact tells a powerful story ranging from resilience, courage and hope to hardship and injustice.

Open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10am to4pm. We also offer group bookings by appointment.

Visit us at 351 Ryrie Street, Geelong or visit our website.

Thank you to Boom Jellyfish Productions for helping us share our story.

People from all around the world are visiting the Australian Orphanage Museum and learning about the experiences of Aust...
07/10/2026

People from all around the world are visiting the Australian Orphanage Museum and learning about the experiences of Australian Care Leavers.

Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) has been collecting memorabilia associated with Orphanage life since before 2000 to ensure the history of Australian Care Leavers is visible to everyone. Through these unique objects we tell the stories of Care Leavers in the way they want their stories to be told.

It’s only $10 to visit us at 351 Ryrie St, Geelong between 10am and 4pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

You can also book a group visit. Please reach out and book via www.aomuseum.com.au

Many generations have been impacted by the trauma of institutional abuse in Orphanages, Children’s Homes and Foster Care...
24/09/2026

Many generations have been impacted by the trauma of institutional abuse in Orphanages, Children’s Homes and Foster Care. The children were meant to be cared for - instead, they were subjected to terrible neglect and abuse.

It can be hard for Care Leavers to share these stories - but it is important to tell family members, GPs and Redress what happened.

When you visit the Australian Orphanage Museum you will go on a moving and thought-provoking journey. Every photograph and artefact tells a powerful story ranging from resilience, courage and hope to hardship and injustice.

It’s only $10 to visit us at 351 Ryrie St, Geelong between 10am and 4pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

You can also book a group visit. Please reach out and book via www.aomuseum.com.au

Meet Malcolm. At 83, Malcolm finally saw his father’s war service photo for the first time.We asked him if he ever met h...
06/09/2026

Meet Malcolm. At 83, Malcolm finally saw his father’s war service photo for the first time.

We asked him if he ever met his Dad growing up in South Australia: “When I was a baby, but he was just a flash.”

This Father's Day we are thinking of all the men who never met their dads.

To all Care Leavers who are dads - here are some excellent books about fathers from our library at the Australian Orphan...
06/09/2026

To all Care Leavers who are dads - here are some excellent books about fathers from our library at the Australian Orphanage Museum.

Thinking of all the men who never meet their dads and those who lost their dads.

Happy Father’s Day to you all.

People learn so much from seeing and experiencing objects and reminders of the past. Care Leavers Australasia Network (C...
24/08/2026

People learn so much from seeing and experiencing objects and reminders of the past. Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) was established in 2000. By 2001, we immediately started maintaining a collection of memorabilia associated with life growing up in an Orphanage or Children's Home. The objects help us tell our stories in the way that Care Leavers want their stories to be told.

Justice Peter McClellan, Chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, had a very profound experience when he visited the museum.

We thank Justice McClellan and all other commissioners for donating a tie or jacket to our exhibits.

It’s only $10 to visit us at 351 Ryrie St, Geelong between 10am and 4pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. You can also book a group visit. Please reach out and book via www.aomuseum.com.au



Thank you, Helen and Rod, for telling your stories. Helen was 17 before she was allowed to leave Nazareth House in Queen...
19/08/2026

Thank you, Helen and Rod, for telling your stories. Helen was 17 before she was allowed to leave Nazareth House in Queensland. "There was no abuse I didn’t experience," she says. "Priests did come around when they felt like it.” And that’s as far as she’ll go, the memories too harrowing to disclose.

Rod and his siblings were Victorian Wards of the State as children. He says they were all abused. Rod spent time in prison, as a 16-year-old, for just 18 months. He compares Victoria’s Pentridge Prison as a “holiday camp” compared to the Bayswater Boys Home.

Redress started 8 years ago in July 2018. The scheme will be open to applicants for another two years. There is a risk the Redress scheme will not clear its backlog before closing at its current processing rate.

CLAN supports urgent calls for scheme to be extended – and remove the complexity and unnecessary delays!

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/redress-scheme-rolls-out-for-australias-child-sex-abuse-survivors/xazosot6u

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-02/redress-scheme-sexual-abuse-survivor-backlog-extension/106864394

Address

351 Ryrie Street
Geelong, VIC
3220

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm

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