Colanda Training Centre

Colanda Training Centre history in brief

In May 1976, Colanda Training Centre at Colac accepted its first residents.

In 2016, Colanda continued to provide supported accommodation for people with intellectual disabilities.

The last residents were moved to new homes and Colanda Residential Services closed in October 2019.

Warning about distressing information

This guide contains information that some people may find distressing. If you experienced abuse as a child or young person in an institution mentioned in this guide, it may be a difficult reading experience. Guides may also contain references to previous views, policies and practices that are regrettable and do not reflect the current views, policies or practices of the department or the State of Victoria. If you find this content distressing, please consult with a support person either from the Department of Health or another agency. There are also other support options available to you.

Source

Media release, Premier's Office, Wednesday 30 October 2019, www.premier.vic.gov.au/site-4/historic-end-to-institutional-care-in-victoria-0

List of records held by the department

For information relating to the central management of care leavers and wards of state, please consult the guide to Central department wardship and out-of-home care records. These collections date back to the 1860s and include ward registers, index cards and ward files.

Trainee information

Trainee and administrative records (1973–88)

File, card and volume; Unappraised

Content: A mixed collection including trainee and administrative records, as follows:

• Trainee records:
  otrainee case files, 1951–91
  owarrants, numbers 1–2620, 1976–91
  oadmission and discharge cards
  oadmission register, male and female, 1976–79
  onumerical register of patients, 1976–88
  oregister of extended stay residents, 1977–78
  obruise and injury books, 1982–86
  oleave of absence books, 1976–88.
• Administrative records:
  omail books, 1975–89
  omechanical engineering specification manual. 1973–74
  otrust account records, 1976–87
  oregister of oil use, 1976–86.

Disability files (1939–2013)

File; Unappraised

Content: Disability files relating to individual Colanda residents. There may be one or more file type for each resident and there may be one or more parts to each file. File types include:

• Client file, identified by suffix CS
• Accommodation, identified by suffix AC
• Behaviour Intervention Support Team (BIST) file, identified by suffix BI.

Files are in alphabetical order by name of the resident and are numbered in a single number sequence with one of the above suffixes added to the numbers. In cases where a resident had earlier admissions to other training centres the file content may predate their residency at Colanda.

Client Account Management System (CAMS) records (1992–98)

File and volume; Temporary

Content: Financial records mostly related to the Client Account Management System (CAMS) some of which relate to individual residents. The records include:

banking records: bank slips, cancelled cheques, 1992–96

• orders, 1994–95
• receipts, 1993–96
• individual client expenditure books, 1997
• invoices, 1994-95
• journal, 1994–96
• payment reports, 1994–96
• trust account orders and receipts, 1993–96.

The records were destroyed in 2009.

Residential Units and Trainee records (1976–2008)

File and volume; Unappraised

Content: A mixed and varied collection with contents relating to various residential units or to individual Colanda residents. The records include:

• client specific files
• day/night report books
• communication books
• client expenditure records system (CERS) records relating to specific individual residents
• ERS files relating to individual units
• personnel files
• correspondence, memoranda, minutes
• school attendance books
• incident reports
• Individual Program Plans
• General Service Plans.

Departmental administration

Flat plans. intellectual disability training centres (Aradale, Caloola, Colanda, Kingsbury, Pleasant Creek)

Drawing and plan, Unappraised

Content: Architectural plans and drawings relating to capital projects at various training centres. Date range of the records and further identifying information has yet to be determined.

Position files, recruitment (2003–05)

File; Temporary

Content: A small collection of records relating to recruitment for positions located in the Geelong, Colac and Glenelg areas. It includes some files relating to positions at Colanda.

Mental retardation nurse student files, Colanda and Pleasant Creek Training Centre (1980–94)

File; Unappraised

Content: Records of students who undertook the mental retardation nurse course at Colanda and Pleasant Creek Training Centre, Stawell. The files contain transcripts of academic results, examination papers, general correspondence, and so on. They are arranged alphabetically by student name in year order.