History
1917
Evangeline Ireland ('Sister Faith' in the Methodist tradition of the day) finds a crippled child spending her days penned under a chicken coop while her parents are at work. At this time, the Education Department does not cater for children then described as "physically handicapped".
1918
Sister Faith and a team of supporters start a 'free kindergarten for physical weaklings' in Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy for children with polio. She names the kindergarten Yooralla - an Aboriginal word meaning 'love'.
1922
Yooralla is relocated to Drummond Street, Carlton before settling in Pelham Street, where its services are expanded to include a school, becoming the first in Victoria to cater for children with non-sensory physical disabilities. This is reflected with a name change to the Yooralla Hospital School and Free Kindergarten. It is kept financially afloat through public and private benefactors.
1932
Subscriptions and donations decline due to the Depression, causing the Yooralla Committee to seek the help of the Argus, Melbourne's major daily newspaper of the day. An initial amount of seventy-two pounds is raised through the Argus Appeal. The Rotary Club of Melbourne donates and maintains a Horse Ambulance to transport children to and from school each day.
1942
With the rapidly deteriorating war situation in Malaya, Yooralla believes it would be unwise to keep a school of crippled children in the metropolitan area where enemy bombings could be expected. As a consequence, Yooralla evacuates all children to the Golf House at Macedon for the duration.
1945
Yooralla purchases a two-story home known as Windsor Lodge, situated on the corner of Belmore and Balwyn Roads in Balwyn, and converts it into hostel accommodation for children with disabilities. On the advice of Yooralla, the Education Department purchases the adjoining property, which is deemed ideal for the future construction of a special school.
1959
GTV 9 presents the first 25 hour Yooralla Telethon to raise money for a proposed new medical treatment block on the Balwyn site that will support children at the new special school next door.
The telethon is so successful that Yooralla is in a position to undertake an entire building project that comprises a new hostel, nurses' home, kitchen, dining hall and treatment facility.
The telethon is a success that launches many celebrity careers. It ran almost every year until 1979.
1962
The Balwyn special school opens, with Yooralla providing daily therapy, attendant care and accommodation support.
1976
Yooralla builds and opens its own training centre and special school in Glenroy for children in the northern and western suburbs of Melbourne.
Included within the three acres of roof area and a further seven acres of carefully landscaped natural environment, is provision for a pre-school centre that is seen as a return to the original concept of the "kindergarten for handicapped children" started by Sister Faith so many years before.
1977
Yooralla merges with the Victorian Society for Crippled Children and Adults to become the Yooralla Society of Victoria - now offering more services to more people at more locations across Victoria.
1993
Yooralla commences de-institutionalisation with the sale of its Balwyn site and facilities.
While therapy staff move to work on site at the Balwyn school, residents and attendant care staff move from now old hostel style accommodation into newly built residential housing in Box Hill.
1996
Yooralla sells its South Melbourne premises. Employment services move to Footscray, the Independent Living Centre moves to Brooklyn and Head Office moves to Flinders Street.
2002
Yooralla completes the sale of two remaining accommodation facilities in Armadale, moving residents into newly built residential housing in nearby suburbs.
2006
Officially known as just Yooralla, the organisation has become a multi-faceted, community based disability service provider, operating out of numerous houses, kindergartens, schools, and other facilities in community locations across Victoria.
Yooralla today
Yooralla continues to provide practical solutions for around 30,000 Victorians with disabilities annually. These solutions include therapy and equipment, accommodation and respite, employment and recreation, and independent living skills that improve mobility, communication, and quality of life.
Yooralla now caters for children and adults who have acquired disabilities through road and recreational accidents, health problems, drug and alcohol abuse, and the effects of ageing, as well as people who are born with disabilities.