The beginnings

Discussions about the establishment of Burke and Beyond started in 1990 when the then Community Services Victoria  approached us to form a legally Incorporated Association to host a day program for 12 to 15 people who were at the time living at Kew Residential Services.  An office was rented at 824 Burke Road in Camberwell to host that program, hence the name Burke and Beyond.  The Association was incorporated on the 3rd of June 1991 and the service opened in July of that year.  

Opening of a second Day Service

The second service was established to cater for six targeted students from Ashwood Special School as well as two other community based people.  
The service expanded quickly following the closure of both Kew Residential services and the Caloola institution.  We were approached again by the Department to host a second program. This led to the opening of a second service in August 1992 at the Box Hill TAFE situated at the Warrandyte campus.  This service eventually moved location twice, in the Ashwood area and then finally came to Blackburn South in early 1995 where we also based our administration.  

Moving to Balwyn Road

In 1993, the Burke Road service moved to a rented space in an historic building at 18 Balwyn Road, Canterbury, which was owned by Anglicare.

Renovations to Blackburn South

In 2004, renovations to our Blackburn South facility saw the addition of an area for the Senior Service and permitted us to support an additional 6 participants to the program at that location.

Opening of Canterbury

In 1998 the search for an alternative to Balwyn Road started and approaches were made to the Boroondara Council to renovate the empty Bowling Clubhouse near the Canterbury Gardens. After long negotiations with the Council, Interchange Inner East, together with Burke and Beyond signed a 10 year lease and proceeded to renovate the building.  We moved into the new premises in 2001.

Governance changes

At the AGM in 2008, the organisation made a major shift in the way it was governed.  Changes were made to the constitution to transform the Committee of Management into a Board of Management.  This change was followed by a concerted effort to draft community members with varied business expertise to add to our existing parents and other volunteers, who had provided great support over the years.

The Community Garden

An application was made in 2006 to the Boroondara Council for funding the establishment of a community Garden in the front area of our Canterbury service. Following an allocated grant of $3,500, a planning application was made to Council at the end of 2007 to establish 31 garden beds for use by members of the Community and other local Community Groups.  After a long application process, the building of the beds started in 2008 with the support of corporate volunteers from the National Australia Bank and the Vermont Lions Club.  Today, all the beds are used and the area hosts many people who come to attend their garden as well as chatting with our participants and staff.

The Next Step

Following a funding proposal in 2008, the Department of Human Services (DHS) kindly provided us with some funds to allow us to explore the establishment of a different service in the region.  A project worker was allocated to create contacts and have discussions with various special schools as well as the Futures for Young Adults team in DHS. This led to the creation of our new service which we called the Next Step. We opened in an office in Blackburn in May 2009 in preparation for the service to start in January 2010.  The service started with 6 new participants and 1.2 staff members.  The service moved in December 2011 to a larger location in the same area.  The numbers have now increased to 20 and the Next Step has developed an excellent reputation as a transitional service for young adults.

Next Step Bayswater

Following a consultation with participants at the Next Step Blackburn and their families, we recognised that there were some of our participants who would still need some support once their Futures funding was ending at Next Step Blackburn.  The Board accepted the Leadership Group’s submission that we should establish a service in the outer east for that purpose as well as to attract people of that area who would need this type of service. This has lead to the opening of the Next Step Bayswater service in January 2014 in Macauley Place. This service has grown steadily since its started and delivers a very dynamic program.