Our story

Our Story Starts Here: Stronger Together

Berry Street and Yooralla share long histories of supporting people and communities across Victoria:

• Berry Street has spent generations working with children, young people and families experiencing trauma, abuse and disadvantage.
• Yooralla has been a trusted provider of disability services, supporting people with disability to pursue their goals, build independence and live meaningful lives.

The coming together of Berry Street Yooralla in 2024, aligned the shared values and strengths of both organisations to deliver greater impact for the individuals and communities we work with and support.

Today, we bring together a unique combination of workforce expertise, partnerships, and new ways of thinking, to expand, improve, and innovate our client-centred services.

Across Victoria, we are already seeing the positive impact this is having on children, young people, adults and families, experiencing trauma, disability, disadvantage, exclusion and inequality.

We look forward to sharing with you the next chapter of our story.

Our legacy

Our legacy started with people.

In November 1877, the first babies entered the Victorian Infant Asylum, established in Fitzroy to provide care for children and mothers, which later relocated to Berry Street in East Melbourne.

In February 1918, the Yooralla Free Kindergarten for Crippled Children was established by Sister Faith (Evangeline Ireland) in Fitzroy, to provide education to children with disability.

Since then, Berry Street and Yooralla have continually evolved to meet the changing needs of the community.

Each organisation has adapted, opened new services, strengthened existing programs, and come together with other organisations to innovate and expand so that more people can access the support they need.

Each organisation recognised the increasing complexity of need among the children, adults and families they support, and the opportunity to deliver more connected, trauma-informed and disability-aware services that better reflect the overlapping needs of the people they served.

And so…Berry Street Yooralla was formed.

Stronger together, and connected by shared values and purpose, we are now building another 150-year legacy of impact.