Our history is our people and their legacy

BaptistCare celebrated 80 years of care during 2024. Our history is a rich tapestry of our people, their stories, and experiences, and we bear witness to their heart for serving others.

In March 2025, BaptistCare (NSW, ACT, WA), Baptcare (VIC, TAS, SA) and Baptist Care SA united to form a single national provider of integrated care and services. This merger brings together our shared history and mission to serve communities with care and compassion. From humble beginnings, the combined histories of BaptistCare (NSW, ACT, WA), Baptist Care SA, and Baptcare (VIC, TAS, SA) have shaped the organisation we are today.

In South Australia, support for people living on the streets was established in 1913 through the West End Baptist Church and West End City Mission, planting the seeds for the coming together of Baptist Care SA. In NSW, pioneering Baptist volunteers established the Baptist Homes Trust in post-war 1944, driven to provide suitable accommodation and nursing care for older women.

Just one year later, a group of dedicated Baptist women raised funds to open Victoria’s first Baptist home for older people, leading to the foundation of Baptcare. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, a kindred ministry emerged in the early 1970s, with the Baptist Homes Board established in WA to provide much-needed accommodation and nursing care for older people.

Now, as we come together under one organisation, we carry forward this rich heritage of care, compassion, and community. Together, we are building a stronger, more connected future. One that honours our past while embracing the opportunities of the future.

Early Milestones

With hard work, passion, and a heart for others, BaptistCare began creating places of hope, with housing and affordable accommodation options for those most vulnerable in our communities, with our early milestones including:

80 Years of Care: Our Legacy

Over the decades, BaptistCare has evolved. While we started out to transform lives by expressing the love of Jesus, it’s the same mission we maintain today. And we do so by placing people at the centre of every activity.

Our services extend across residential aged care, retirement living, home care, and a range of community services, including affordable housing, no-interest loans, advocacy and support for women and children escaping domestic violence.

Today, 80 years on, we walk alongside more than 25,000 people, supporting them to live well across more than 100 locations in NSW, ACT and WA. More than 6,000 employees and 600 volunteers are proud to carry on the legacy of BaptistCare.

Community Services & Housing Milestones

Family services, housing and disability support have always been at the forefront of everything we do in our community. Even in the earliest of days, counselling and family services were in action from the outset, including:

Bringing hope to our communities

Putting faith into action, HopeStreet began in the 1980s in one of Sydney’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods, Woolloomooloo. In 2014, HopeStreet’s programs transitioned to BaptistCare to ensure the continuation of this vital service.

BaptistCare was already providing a similar model in their communities across the state, and has since expanded the urban service, known for delivering care to where it’s most needed.

BaptistCare HopeStreet continues to be a trusted place in some of the most vulnerable communities, with 14 locations across NSW, offering hope to people living with disadvantage and distress.

Learn more about HopeStreet

Our History Books

Throughout our 80 years of care, we have developed a rich and interesting history from the early formative years to the extensive legacy we share today across NSW, ACT and WA.

These achievements have been captured in the texts below: