Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, 1987.

Bibliography: pages 325-331.

Contents:
Part 1: Background -- Charity and evangelism in Melbourne in the nineteenth century -- The Melbourne City Mission 1854-1914 -- Part II Personnel -- Leaders of the Melbourne City Mission -- Missionaries of the Melbourne City Mission -- The people served by the Melbourne City Mission -- Part III: Two districts of the Melbourne City Mission -- Collingwood -- Prahran -- Part IV: Work with women -- Prostitution in Melbourne in the 1870s -- Females and prison: the Elizabeth Fry Retreat and the Victorian Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society in the 1880s -- Part V -- 10. Conclusion.

"It has became so commonly held as almost to be axiomatic among recent Australian historians, that the act of evangelising and giving charity to people, is essentially an act of control and discipline by powerful people in a society over those who have little power. This thesis, in making a detailed examination of the Melbourne City Mission from 1854 to 1914, along with a smaller study of the Elizabeth Fry Retreat in the late 1880s, offers a substantial challenge to any over-simple application of this concept. In addition, it provides a new assessment of the roles of women of all classes, as they are revealed in acts of charitable evangelism. The Introduction establishes the state of historiography in Australia, and to a lesser extent, overseas, in the field of evangelical and charity history. Chapters 1 and 2 make a general survey of the rise of evangelical charity in Great Britain and in Melbourne in the nineteenth century, and provide a detailed introduction to the City Mission movement, and the Melbourne City Mission in particular. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 offer a close investigation of the personnel involved in MCM work in Melbourne: the men and warren who founded and administered the Mission, its missionaries, and its clients. Chapters 6 and 7 look at the Mme; at work. Chapter 6 follows its historyin the suburb of Collingwood as a succession of missionaries worked there, while Chapter 7 concentrates on the career of one missionary, William Hall, in Prahran. Chapters 8 and 9 look particularly at prostitution and the lot of women who served gaol sentences. Chapter 8 describes and assesses the efforts of City Missionaries to help prostitutes in the 1870s. Chapter 9 looks at charitable responses in the 1880s, to women coming out of gaol, in the work of Sarah Swinborn and her institution, The Elizabeth Fry Retreat, and of a public charity, the Victorian Discharged Prisoners" Aid Society. The Conclusion offers revision of current ideas in many key aspects of
charity history." --Summary.