WEL101A - Australian Community Services: Historical Development Essay

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the historical development of community services in Australia. It examines the factors responsible for community creation and its evolution, including the roles of religion, education, economy, and beliefs. The essay discusses the contributions of both government and non-government organizations in providing community services. It explores the historical context, including the mid-19th century's industrial societies and the rise of social provision, with specific examples of early human service workers and organizations. The essay further analyzes the evolution of community services, including the influence of social justice movements, policy changes, and the challenges faced by the sector, such as funding reductions and the introduction of user-pay policies. It also highlights the roles of key organizations like ACWA and contrasts the functions of government and non-government organizations in community development. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of historical knowledge and the ongoing efforts to improve community welfare in Australia.

Running Head: Australian community services
Australian community services

Australian community services
Introduction
Communities are an important factor of a countries development and progress. Every
country tries to make development in the community living standards. Communities are
groups of individuals sharing something common in them. Australia had faced many
challenges in its community making and their development. This essay will discuss various
factors responsible for the community creation and its development. Various factors affect
community growth and development like religion, education, economy and beliefs. This
essay will throw lights on historical development of community services organisation and
new challenges in front of the nation. Non-government and government organisation make
full efforts in providing services without any cost to develop community and to promote
social workers.
Main body
Community is a small or large group of people united socially and have something in
common like languages, manners, traditions and laws. It can be defined as diversity sharing
trust of something common. Efforts to support to maximise their potentials and take
collective action to generate solutions related to common problem is community
development. Development of community is a very broad concept given performed by
political leaders, active citizens, and professionals to improve various aspects of communities
(Tonnis & Loomis, 2017).
Community service is a well-known concept in now days. Community service is kind of
action or work done to help people in a community without getting pay for it. This work is
done for the benefit of others (Cheers, 2019). Time spent as volunteer on activities.
Community services are performed in a group or individually without expecting anything in
exchange of the services. Some people participate in community services for their enjoyment;
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Australian community services
some people do it for charity and some for their satisfaction. Community services focus on
supporting families to complete their caring roles, take care in case of families are unable to
and interferes when personal needs are not able to meet with in the community without
special intervention. Nature of community services is very broad, complex and dynamic.
Community services activities includes, supporting personal with social development,
support for children, developing career opportunities, training sessions, vocational recovery
and employment, monetary and sensible aid, housing maintenance and supported
accommodations, helpful amenities and service of community development and support
(Green & Haines, 2015).
Historical knowledge has an important space in the study of the development of a society. In
present scenario an understanding of social work history is sufficient for the development
work identity (Timms, 2018). Reading historical past experience is not significant for the
detailed knowledge but knowledge about many contemporary steps for social development,
education, professional recognition and about policy activism is important in historical factor.
In the mid of 19th century or so before 1930, a feature of industrial societies was the extension
of social provision include both, government and non-government organisation. These
societies contained a great number of specialist social agencies helping selected categories of
people who were in need of outside assistance. Their proper concern was on underprivileged
children, legal crooks, the physically and mentally challenged, the physically and mentally
suffering, migrants, single mothers, the poor, the aged, the ignorant and the lonely. This was
the time when corporate social responsibility for the personal well-fare of all individuals was
rapidly recognised. Fighting with the community services was not possible individually
though demanded agencies participated in it for individual development (Lawrence, 2016).
State was the only option to make solution of the problems faced by the communities. These
issues demanded higher, broader, stronger and more continuous action to solve the problems.
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Australian community services
History of benevolence or generosity in Australia is long and full of ups and downs with an
emphasis on personal liberty, common control of the inferior groups and child saving. In the
year 1800 to 1850 in the period of colonisation mostly men and women were highly involved
in the different generous and moral reform causes in Australia, including funding and
management of organisations for development of female-only. The Organisation of Charity
Societies in Sydney was founded in the year of 1878, in Adelaide in 1885 and in Melbourne
in1887. Very few Australian women lived settled and professional life (Everingham, 2018).
Women played an important role in colonial period by providing educational and welfare
services.
In the year of 1970 political nature of community health was important. Group of passionate
people set a mission to improve health of individual living in a community; they were going
to set an example of developed community. With the rise of social justice movement in 1970,
there was a rapid change in the generation. This educated and progressive minded generation
directed the growth of the community health movement. These social welfare groups adapt
political campaigning, funding and advocacy. They also made plan to solve issues relevant to
housing issues, rural and urban development and plans women empowerment. In the period
of a progressive federal government (1972-75) Universal healthcare insurance policy was
passed with the aim to develop the local health services.
After Social justice movement 1970 a community health model was settled to community
development approaches, include support groups, patient led groups, preventive health
education. In the late1980 mobilisation of a ‘Campaign against entrepreneurial medicine’ was
made against private super clinics establishing Fitzroy community health centre. In the year
of 1990 community health services were facing problems relating to fund reduction and
pressurisation to combine with adjacent community health centres due to economic neo-
liberalisation of market with a ‘user pay’ logic (Hooper, Foster, Knuiman, & Giles-Corti,
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Australian community services
2018). This logic removed the noble idea of a universal free service to the whole country by
introducing obligatory fees policy for taking community improving health services in the
year of 1997. In the late 19th century; Australia first time in the world introduced women’s
suffrage rights. In 1999, Australia introduced a united nation force into East Timor to help in
establishment and liberation of that nation. In 2007 Australia released a report of the ‘little
children are scared’. It was a report of a board of inquiry to protect aboriginal children from
sexual abuse (Coady, 2017).
Categorisation of community services organisations is a difficult task, because they are
shifting their choice from voluntary to professional organisations and service agencies to
informal group of people (White, Wyn, & Robards, 2017). Community service organisations
sometimes include socially active organisations, religious places, educational and welfare
organisations. Community services organisations are primarily accepted as a non-profit
organisation, but sometimes it include all organisations, including profit organisations.
Community services include various sectors like educating children, care to children,
providing effective services to client, development of community sector including housing,
volunteering, youth justice and direct client care and support. Australia has a variety of
community services organisation including Government organisation as well as non-
government organisation like Australian children’s education and care quality authority,
Family day care, united voice, Australian services union, Australian teacher aide, Australian
tutoring association and many more.
Australia is the country focusing on the better development of the community has formed
many organisations like Australian community workers association. (ACWA) a national body
supporting community workers in every aspect of their work with around 50,000 hard
working workers successfully involved as community work practitioners in Australia.
ACWA’s main aim is to make efforts for the promotion of those professionals who works for
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Australian community services
community development. It deals in identification and reorganization of the educational
standards for community workers, supporting members in professional community
development and do all such other things incidental or conductive to the attainment of the
association’s object. ACWA was started over 45 years ago on 16 April 1969 at a meeting
held in Sydney. Members in meeting were different social workers. They all were in consent
in forming an association to effectively perform their social works and to facilitate society
with their services (Bennett, 2015).
Government and Non-government both organisations are based on the motive of community
development. This essay will make comparison among both because sometimes they seem
similar in nature of work they perform. On the basis of their establishment these two
organisations can be separated as; Non-government organisation are the group legally
identified and formed by private persons without any participation or representation of
government. They maintain non-governmental positions. Although NGO’s mostly gets its
funds by the government. Government organisations are entities owned by any government,
funding and managed by the government. They use their extra funds for the purpose of the
organisation. (Kilby, 2015)
On the basis of the purpose of their establishment both organisation serves differently.
NGO’s purpose is to manage community health and education, management of health related
crises, protection of women and children’s rights, environmental and economic
empowerment issues. A government organisation aims at public safety, scientific
development, literacy Improvement and prevention from cruelty to children or animal but on
a smaller scale than NGO. The main and biggest difference between both of them is the scope
of their work. All people related with an NGO get nothing in return of their services.
Government organisations are permanent and controlled authority and offer services and
programmes through federal, local and state funds (Green D. , 2015).
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A country makes many efforts to mobilise its resources to use in the development of its
community. A similarity between both organisations is that, these both organisations focus on
the same motive. Both organisations aimed at the development of the society and community
development. They both make plans, provisions and investment in the sector of human
welfare and development. Making improvement in economic conditions, health conditions,
literacy conditions and environmental conditions is main aim of both the organisations.
Conclusion
This essay is in conclusion that Australian government made efficient efforts in its history.
This results in the developed Australian societies. History play significant role in the
development of a national society and community. Willingness to draw a socially developed
nation, people of Australia made reductions in smoking rates and improvements in maternal
and childhood health. It is concluded that in some countries NGOs and NPOs are one in the
same. Both work for the welfare and benefits of human life and society. They make efforts to
provide better society. Organizations for community development are task-oriented with one
common interest. NGOs are very important because they offer better means of local
communication, action and sometimes facilitate a society with existing local resources. These
all tasks are performed with the motive of the development and progress in the community
where they exist.
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