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In its more than 65 years of operation, Lady Gowrie Child Centre, Sydney (Gowrie) has undergone major changes and developments. These have been in response to changing child care needs of children and families in NSW and in line with government priorities and issues within the early childhood profession. However, it has always had children and families as its focus and has endeavoured to lead and support the delivery of high quality services.
Events that have been significant in Gowrie's development include:
Gowrie was established in Erskineville (as part of a national Australian government program) in 1940 as a kindergarten for one hundred local children between the ages of 2 and 5. The objective of the program was to test and demonstrate methods of care and education of young children, with particular emphasis on child health and nutrition. The centre had a strong local focus offering home visits and regular checks for children on their general health. Observation booths in the playrooms provided opportunities for child care workers, health and welfare professionals to observe children and see how child development centres should be run within the state. All six of the Lady Gowrie Child Centres which were operating nationally had similar terms of reference and common objectives. In 1979 each centre was required by the Australian government to take a special focus, and the Sydney Gowrie adopted the multicultural early childhood education program as its focus. Gowrie became a leader in this area, developing innovative approaches and techniques and promoting the underlying values and programming strategies across NSW through the provision of training and resource development. Other developments at this time were the establishment of a resource library and a small bookshop that distributed books and audio visual material to children's service staff and supporting services in isolated and rural settings. The Sydney Lady Gowrie Child Centre was incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee (a not for profit community based company) in 1984, and the lease of the Erskineville premises, which are owned by NSW Housing, was transferred to the new company. (The lease had previously been in the name of Kindergarten Union, which along with the Australian Early Childhood Association (see following)had strong historical links with Gowrie). With Australian government funding, the national Gowrie program was co-ordinated by the Australian Early Childhood Association (now Early Childhood Australia ECA), although as the Gowries matured this became less meaningful. In 1992 government funding ceased and the arrangement was replaced by a Memorandum of Understanding between ECA and the Gowries, and the national Gowrie Consortium (at that time the Gowrie RAP Consortium and now Gowrie Australia) was established. The Sydney Gowrie maintains close links with ECA both at the NSW Branch and national levels and is a strong supporter of ECA's advocacy work. In 1981, the Children's Services Switchboard (now Child Care and Family Information) was started as the focal point for the collection of data and information about children services and making this information available to families, service providers and the early childhood community. Switchboard was a unique and innovative service and was funded for many years by both the Australian and NSW governments. The Australian government funding was withdrawn with the establishment of the Child Care Access Hotline as a national child care call centre. For some years Switchboard operated from the Albion Street Surry Hills site of the old Children's Court, then moved to rented premises in Wilson Street Newtown, and finally to the Gowire building at Elliott Avenue, Erskineville. NSW DoCS continues to fund the service which provides comprehensive information about all NSW children's services regardless of their funding status. In 1984, the Erskineville children's program changed from pre-school to a long day care centre for children aged birth to 5 years. The Gowrie Out of School Hours Care service was established at the local primary school. This was in response to the women's movement and the growing demands of the community, particularly women who were entering the labour force and saw child care as a social requirement and a political issue. This was supported by alterations to the Elliott Avenue buildings which connected the various playrooms and allowed for integration of children from various age groups particularly outdoor play. The old observation booths were also removed. During the 1980s Gowrie's commitment to welcoming families and children from diverse cultural groups and backgrounds led to strong connections not only with families from other than English speaking backgrounds and with local Aboriginal families, but also made the long day care centre the centre of choice for many gay families. This in turn challenged established practice and allowed Gowrie to develop and widely promote high quality practice in this area. Gowrie is proud to maintain this tradition of welcoming all families and actively reflecting in our practice and environments the diverse families that make up our communities. In the late 1980s Gowrie started working with and promoting the Anti Bias Curriculum which increased our understanding of the development of bias and the need for active individual and organisational engagement and response. This was widely applied across the organisation and its principles contribute to our work today. In 1991 Gowrie was instrumental in establishing the NSW Children's Services Health &Safety Committee which still operates, now auspiced by Early Childhood Australia NSW Branch. Committee activities include researching and producing (with NSW government funding support) produces model policies and practices for children's services and delivering related training. In 1990/1991, the Multicultural Resource Unit was renamed the Gowrie Resource Centre.
For the next fifteen years, until the Inclusion &Professional Support Program brought major changes in the Australian government's program support and inclusion services, the Gowrie Resource Centre delivered a range of Australian and NSW government-funded sector support services, along with fee-for-service training. NSW DoCS continues to directly contribute to Gowrie's sector support services, which helps to keep the inservice training program, the Gowrie Library, and the quarterly publication Gowrie Reflections accessible for all NSW children's services.
(i) The Gowrie library grew to become a large specialist collection, providing resources to visitors and by mail order to members around NSW.
Following the establishment of FaCSIA's Professional Support Co-ordinator (PSC) in 2005 direct Australian government funding to the Gowire Library ceased, but Children's Services Central (the NSW PSC) contracted Gowrie to deliver resource library services. Simultaneously FaCSIA required that all resources held by the former SUPS Pools were centralised and the Gowrie library now holds and lends these.
In 2007 the Gowrie Library continues to deliver the same state wide lending services and all services and individuals can join, although the FaCSIA changes have required changes to membership categories.
(ii) In 1993 the national Quality Improvement and Accreditation System was introduced and Gowrie (initially partnered by Community Child Care Co-op) along with the other Gowries and RAPs (Resource and Advisory Programs) in the ACT and NT delivered the training and support for this.
In NSW this continued until early 2006, and today continues to the extent that some training and support work is contracted by the NSW PSC. Gowrie continues to deliver fee-for-service training and support in this area.
(iii) Since the beginning of the SUPS program (short for Supplementary Service Workers) in the 1980s Gowrie had been involved with training for the Australian government's inclusion support program. As the government's inclusion program developed and changed during the 1990s, Gowrie became the manager of the NSW Inclusion Support Service, co-ordinating the training of SUPS workers and operating a specialist equipment library. This continued until 2006. Following the appointment of the NSW Professional Support Co-ordinator, Gowrie was contracted to continue to operate the Specialist Equipment Pool.
(iv) In the late 1990s Gowrie took responsibility for operating FaCSIA's training co-ordination for the NSW Multifunctional Aboriginal Children's Services, and in 2004 the Aboriginal Playgroups program was added. In 2006 Gowrie was selected to manage FaCSIA's newly created Indigenous Professional Support Unit for NSW and the ACT.
(v) Fee for service in service training continued to be delivered throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, and continues to the present to provide opportunities for the exploration of ideas and learning that go beyond vocational training and compliance topics, although they are certainly related to quality improvement in services.
(vi) In 1998 Gowrie became a Registered Training Organisation and delivered Certificate III and the Diploma in Children's Services, and components from them, around NSW through the VET unit of the Gowrie Resource Centre.
(vii) During the late 1990s the GRC developed its capacity to produce high quality resources for sale to the sector, some with government funding, and this continues as to the present.
The Gowrie Resource Centre was based at the Gowrie building at Elliott Avenue Erskineville until late 2003, when it moved to the old South Sydney Hospital site at Zetland. In 2006, in response to changing services, the name Gowrie Resource Centre was discontinued and the range of services are now known collectively as Gowrie Training, Support and Inclusion Services.
FacSIA's 2006 changes saw the establishment of Inclusion Support Agencies around the country, and Gowrie was selected to manage the Inclusion Support Agencies for NSW Central West (based at Bathurst) and NSW West (based at Dubbo).
With regard to children's programs:
In 1995/1996, Gowrie commenced a review of the operations of the long day care centre, with resulting changes to group sizes and some areas of practice. This culminated in Gowrie's continuing commitment to maintain high quality (rather than minimum legal) staff:child ratios and other indicators of quality in response to the Australian Government's removal of Operational Subsidy from community based child care centres in 1996/97. In1997/1998, supported by funding from DoCS and FaCSIA, the Centre started playground improvements and renovations to the building. Today the centre operates at 68 infants to school age children and has a long waiting list. It is accredited at High Quality. In 2007 staff at the Gowrie CCC are participating in an action research project led by academics at the University of Western Sydney, in the Families First Strength Based Practice in Early Childhood project in South Eastern Sydney and in bringing strategies for environmental sustainability to children's services. Later in the year they will participate in an Early Childhood Australia's High Scope project. The Gowrie Outside School Hours Service at Erskineville went through some difficult years associated with plans to close the school (during which Gowrie committed to maintain the service as a community support) but over the past three years is growing with the rejuvenated school. This year enrolments have increased from 40 to 75 children in after school care. The service is accredited at High Quality. In 1997 Gowrie tendered successfully to develop and operate Nanbaree Child Centre in the Sydney CBD for the NSW Premiers Department, and continues to operate this as a successful high quality service for 40 infants to school aged children. Nanbaree CC is accredited at High Quality. Staff are participating in a program to implement Learning Stories following a Gowrie sponsored visit to New Zealand last year. In 2002 Gowrie tendered successfully to operate John Mewburn Child Care Centre at Malabar for the NSW Department of Corrective Services, and continues to operate this as a successful high quality service for 55 infants to school aged children. John Mewburn CCC is accredited at High Quality. Staff are participating in Partnerships in Early Childhood, a program of the Benevolent Society to support staff and families in understanding children's attachment and the emotional meaning of behaviour. The JMCCC contract is due for re-tender in 2008. In 1998 Gowrie joined the NSW Adult Migrant English Service consortium as child care provider, and today operates creches (on site unlicensed child care services) at Bankstown, Burwood, Hornsby and Surry Hills, along with placing many children in mainstream child care services while parents attend English language classes.
With regard to community information services:
The Gowrie data base is maintained as a comprehensive and current data base of NSW children's services and related support agencies and services. The Child Care & Family Infoline (known for many years as Switchboard) is funded mainly by DoCS and operates as a free telephone information service about child care and related matters for NSW families and others. The Early Childhood Intervention Infoline was established in 2005 and is funded by the NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care to provide a free telephone information service for parents and child care services about resources and support services for children with disabilities
Gowrie operated the NSW JET Child Care Resource Worker service for FaCSIA from its beginning until its transfer to Centrelink in 2006.
Today, Lady Gowrie Child Centre delivers a wide range of child care, training, inclusion and support services, and information & referral services, along with a number of contracted one off projects. It is a not-for-profit community organisation managed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Strategic planning and ongoing review of all financial and operational systems and policies is high on the Board agenda in accordance to the principles of "governance".
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