Meals on Wheels, volunteers and government

For almost 60 years, volunteers have been delivering hot meals to the elderly across Australia through the Meals on Wheels program. Melanie Oppenheimer explores the history of this program and how it highlights the changing relationship between the Australian Government and the voluntary sector.

Volunteering has been, and continues to be, a very important part of our lives. According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more than 34 per cent of Australians over the age of 18 volunteer, and they can be found in all walks of life – from coaching to counselling and from baking cakes for a school fete to planting trees.

Governments have been integral to the voluntary sector, and volunteers have been essential to governments. During the 20th century, a close relationship existed between them. This relationship, or 'moving frontier', has shifted over time.

Records in the National Archives of Australia reveal the developing relationship between the Australian Government and voluntary organisations, especially in the area of community welfare, where a large proportion of volunteers are found.

Meals on Wheels gears up

An excellent example of the slow and subtle shift in the relationship between the Australian Government and voluntary organisations concerns that iconic organisation, Meals on Wheels. With its roots in Britain, Meals on Wheels was modelled on a World War II initiative of providing meals to citizens whose homes were destroyed in the Blitz. In 1949, the idea was brought to Australia by Mrs Nancy Dobson, the honorary secretary of the Ladies Auxiliary of the South Melbourne Council. By 1953, Doris Taylor had founded Meals on Wheels Inc in South Australia with the first kitchen opening in Port Adelaide the following year. Four years later, the Sydney City Council established the first program in New South Wales.

Funding of Meals on Wheels was ad hoc and varied from state to state, with some state and local governments assisting. The scheme was most developed in South Australia where there was generous state government support and volunteers delivered 1300 hot meals daily to the aged.

In Victoria, the state Department of Health subsidised the activity through local government, Senior Citizens’ Clubs and the Red Cross, while in Western Australia, the League of Home Help for Sick and Aged Inc and some local councils provided subsidies. In Tasmania, hospital kitchens provided the meals and two voluntary organisations delivered them. In New South Wales and Queensland, there was no state subsidy at all, and it was largely left up to local government, service clubs and other community groups.

The Australian Government steps in

In a Cabinet submission in December 1969, the Minister for Social Services, WC Wentworth, argued that voluntary organisations providing Meals on Wheels services should be allocated a $1 subsidy for every 10 meals served. Although he noted that 'the valuable service rendered by many voluntary organisations throughout Australia providing meals to aged and invalid persons in their homes' was widely recognised, it was hoped that the proposed Commonwealth assistance would encourage the extension of the program and help keep the elderly in their own homes by providing a range of services.

This proposed financial support for Meals on Wheels can be seen as part of the broader changes under way in aged care in the late 1960s. It is also symbolic of the shifting relationship between state and federal governments in this area. The original Home Nursing Subsidy Scheme, introduced by the Commonwealth Government in 1957, promoted the expansion and development of aged care homes to ease pressure off public hospitals. Its initiatives included home nursing services, housekeeper and home-help services, home visiting, senior citizens’ centres and other services.

The Meals on Wheels subsidy initiative emerged from the 1967 and 1968 Australian Health Minister’s Conferences, and was part of the Commonwealth's response to build a new state/federal funding agreement for home and nursing care for the aged.

Through the Delivered Meals Subsidy Act 1970, the Commonwealth subsidy encouraged a more equitable system nationwide. It allowed the voluntary organisations already delivering meals on wheels to expand and new ones to be created in states like Queensland, where there was no program. The scheme was so successful that within two years it was increased to 15 cents per meal. It assisted organisations and volunteers across the country to deliver hot meals to elderly residents.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, the frontiers of the Australian Government slowly expanded through subsidies and shared programs with the voluntary sector. Volunteering and voluntary action plays an important role in the Australian community. As the Meals on Wheels example shows, the evidence is everywhere when you look for it, including in the National Archives of Australia.

This story was originally published in the National Archives magazine Memento, Issue 34, January 2008.