"Anzac Hostel - a home, not an institute"

The opening of Anzac Hostel. Three policemen stand in the foreground in front of the hostel which is draped in flags while guests mingle to the left. His Excellency the Governor, the Honourable Sir Arthur Lyulph Stanley, KCMG, officially opened Anzac Hostel as a home for the care of totally and permanently incapacitated ex-servicemen. In November 1918 the government purchased "Kamesburgh", a property originally built in 1873-1874 for the price of 17000 pounds. It used funds donated by the Baillieu brothers; William Lawrence (1859-1936), Edward Lloyd (1867-1939), Arthur Sydney (1872-1943), Richard Percy Clive (1874-1941), Norman Horace (1878-1955) and Captain Maurice Howard Lawrence (1883-1961), all prominent Melbourne businessmen and philanthropists. The brothers had donated the very generous sum of 25000 pounds to a charitable fund for wounded soldiers. "Kamesburgh" was purchased with part of this money to establish Anzac Hostel. After essential building modifications the Red Cross, along with the nursing staff, undertook the cleaning of the building and preparations for receiving patients. At the time Anzac Hostel opened it had a capacity of twenty-five beds and employed seven nurses under the charge of Matron Catherine Munro. Anzac Hostel was officially closed on 30 June 1995 and the house is now used as a school. A new Anzac Hostel was opened on the property's grounds on 27 July 1998. One of a series of 43 photographs published by the Commonwealth of Australia's Department of Repatriation in '"AFTER" THE DIGGER CARRIES ON', a presentation album of images portraying the experiences of returned Australian servicemen. This cloth-bound album with lizard-skin impression was presented to Robert Gibson CBE, the then Deputy Chairman of the Repatriation Commission on 23 October 1919 in Melbourne. (see also H13063)