Newspaper article: Goodwill gifts, Diamond Valley Leader, 15 December 2004, Melbourne City Mission seeking donations for residents of Eltham Retirement Village, manager Colleen Tenni. Newspaper advertisement: Diamond Valley Leader, 25 June 2005, Eltham Villa Aged Care. Newspaper advertisement: Diamond Valley Leader 15 October 2008, Eltham Villa Aged Care, manager Joanne Tomada. Newspaper advertisement: Diamond Valley Leader, 11 November 2009, Eltham Villa. Newspaper article: A home away from home, Diamond Valley Leader, 14 March 2007, Details of Eltham Villa, manager Mary Maleki. Newspaper article: A home away from home, Diamond Valley Leader, 21 July 2010, Eltham Villa Aged Care, manager Joanne Tomada, co-ordinator Tania Fox.main road, eltham, melbourne citymission, eltham retirement village, colleen tenni, eltham villa aged care, joanne tomada., mary maleki, tania fox, judge book retirement village

CityMission Retirement Village, also known as Eltham Retirement Centre, also formerly known as Judge Book Memorial Village, was officially opened on Sunday 28 October 1956. This history documents the first thirty years through to 1986. Founded by the Melbourne City Mission, the significant early history of the "village for the aged" is documented including the various challenges faced including ongoing expansions and building develoment needs and impacts of flooding from the nearby Diamond Creek. It mentions some people associated with the organisation with reference to the Eltham Auxillary which was a group of Eltham residents formed to support the organisation and its residents through activity and fundraising efforts.Softcover; 60p.judge book village, retirement village, melbourne citymission, eltham, aged care, seniors, social service, older people, housing

Letter to the editor published in the Diamond Valley News,, July 1, 1998 by John Wise, General Mananger Aged Services, Melbourne Citymisson Retirement Centre, Diamond St. stating the situation regarding a reduction in subsidies by the State Goverment and the organisations committment to upgrade the facilities. In 2021, Judge Book is known as St Vincent's Care Services Eltham. Another letter to the editor refers to the Ring Road / Greensborough Bypass / Greensborough Highway Duplication by Karen Geradts, convenor of the St Andrews & District Branch of the Australian Greens. judge book memorial village, aged care, melbourne city mission, seniors, funding, ring road, nursing home, aged care facility, john wise, greensborough bypass, greensborough highway, karin geradts, st andrews & district branch of the australian greens, judgebook

Article by William Jackson published in the Diamond Valley News. Melbourne Citymission has dropped plans to sell Judgebook village retirement centre. In 2021, Judge Book is known as St Vincent's Care Services, Elthamjudge book memorial village, aged care, melbourne city mission, seniors, nursing home, aged care facility, chris white, william jackson, judgebook

Monterey Cypress Trees have been removed from along Diamond Street, Eltham at the site of the Eltham Retirement Centre (formerly known as Judge Book Village). In 2021, Judge Book is known as St Vincent's Care Services Eltham. judge book memorial village, aged care, melbourne city mission, seniors, nursing home, aged care facility, judgebook, monterey cypress trees, tree removal, robert weller, ken patterson

Article by Judy Lewis published in the Eltham Town Community News [2009] page 10 describing the history of the property known as Judge Book Villlage / Eltham Retirement Centre operated by Melbourne CityMission as the Centre is placed on the market for sale. The detailed article includes a table of milestones including in 1956 when Prime Minister Robert Menzies laid the foundation stone. Includes colour photos. In 2021, Judge Book is known as St Vincent's Care Services Eltham. judge book memorial village, aged care, melbourne city mission, seniors, nursing home, aged care facility, judgebook, ken patterson, willandra, judy lewis

Booklet produced by St Vincent's Care Services presenting a timeline of Eltham Retirement Centre 1955-2015 when it was purchased by St Vincent's Health Australia. Also includes Sisters of Charity Heritage timeline 1815-2015. Eltham Retirement Centre was previously known as Judge Book Village. judge book memorial village, judgebook, st vincent's health australia, timeline, chronology, sisters of charity, eltham retirement centre, aged care services

Thousands of elderly people at this centre have contributed much. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p161 Thousands of elderly people, who have contributed much to Nillumbik and beyond, have made their home in the treed Eltham Retirement Centre. The centre, which opened in 1956, has housed the disadvantaged in particular, through good times and hard, including floods, fire and even burglaries. As part of the Melbourne Citymission, a non-denominational Christian organisation that cares for people living with disadvantage, the centre was built to celebrate 100 years of the Melbourne Citymission’s work since 1854. Standing on a former poultry farm called Willandra (Still Waters), the centre includes independent units, hostel, nursing home accommodation and a Day Therapy Centre, which is available for non-residents as well. Despite being metres from the busy Main Road and railway station, the centre provides a quiet oasis on 6.8 hectares bordered by the Diamond Creek to the west, and the railway line to the east. The centre was originally named Judge Book Memorial Village after Judge Clifford Book, Deacon of the Collins Street Baptist Church. Book was also President of the Baptist Union of Victoria and Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge. He was so respected that, at his death, several Pentridge prisoners asked to attend his funeral. In 1993 the centre’s name was changed to clarify that it was part of the Melbourne Citymission. However Judge Book’s name continues in the Judge Book Memorial Garden, opened in 2006. The Diamond Creek has flooded the centre several times, however rarely causing serious damage. Volunteer Alan Field recalls a flood in 1974 when the resident manager Reverend Norman Pearce and his wife, were rescued by boat from their home with their budgerigar. On February 3, 2005, when the creek almost flooded Metzner Hall, 35 ambulances evacuated residents to nearby nursing homes, hostels and local homes. Residents were also evacuated during the 1965 bush fire, but fortunately a change of wind direction saved the centre. Residents have also endured several burglaries. Despite much rebuilding and modernisation over the years, traces of the original farmhouse remain in the administration areas. In 1991 the Willandra Hostel was built and in 2001 the Eltham Lodge Nursing Home with each room having a garden view. Several buildings are named after people who have given special service to the centre including the Norman Pearce Day Hospital after general manager and pastor Rev Pearce. Metzner Hall was named after the Metzner family who had been active in the auxiliary since it began and had donated generously to the Recreation Hall fund.3 A bridge was named after Sister Lila Murray who had worked at the village for 42 years in various capacities including as relieving manager. Field remembers Sister Murray as ‘the Mother Teresa and soul of what the village aspired to, with love and care’. Since 1957 the Eltham Auxiliary, later called the Residents’ Association, has worked to improve the residents’ quality of life by volunteering and raising funds. An outstanding volunteer, Field, who was drawn to the centre in 1971 with his wife Chris, has held positions on the early Eltham boards, auxiliaries and Residents’ Association. Much of his work has been supporting people with no family and those of limited means. He says he and his wife look at their work as having shared ‘our lives with amazing people’. The wealth of experience and wisdom in the Retirement Village has benefited many people, including local school children. Residents have acted as proxy grand-parents at local schools, by assisting small learning groups or telling their life stories. Conversely, students from local schools have visited to perform, or to assist in programs like craft activities. Resident Val Bell, whose mother Rose Bullock lived at the centre before her, sums up the centre’s most important attribute for her: ‘The Christian care. They could not be more caring’.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, diamond street, eltham, eltham retirement centre, eltham retirement village, judge book memorial village