Mill Lane Blessing

Member, volunteers, staff and friends of the Society came together on Friday 29 August for the blessing of the newly developed Mill Lane Precinct in Glenorchy, an outer northern suburb of Hobart.

Hobart Archbishop Most Reverend Anthony Ireland blessed the site, which will be the main base of operations for the Society’s southern operations, providing a new home for Members, staff and volunteers, plus several of our Special Works and a large retail store.

“We are very excited to have our Mill Lane Precinct opening soon, as this will bring several core parts of our southern Vincentian Family together in one place while better serving the community from a key location in the northern suburbs of Hobart,” St Vincent de Paul State President Corey McGrath said.

“With most of the operations from the existing Southern Regional Office in Elizabeth St, relocating to the Mill Lane Precinct, together with a diverse range of other Vinnies activities, this will give us a more integrated organisation with multiple benefits.”

“Internally this affords greater collaboration and efficiencies, while helping us to better shape a shared culture across our diverse organisation. 

“But fundamentally, by extending our physical presence across key sites in southern Tasmania, we are better able to support the wider community from locations where we know our services are most needed.”

While emergency relief services will continue to be offered from the current hub site on the corner of Elizabeth and Melville Streets until the former Argyle Street hub reopens, the new precinct in the northern suburbs will begin operating in late September.  

The site will offer an Emergency Relief centre, a Vinnies shop, provide a new base for Loui’s Van and also the Society’s Dining with Friends program, all operating under a single roof. 

In addition, the St Vincent de Paul Society’s supported employment enterprises, St Vincent Industries and Tas Textiles, will be co-located at the Mill Lane site.  

The team at Tas Textiles, which has operated from this location for over fifty years, is excited to welcome the crew from St Vincent Industries which is relocating from its base in Burnett Street, North Hobart, where it has also operated for over fifty years.  

Co-location will provide a host of new opportunities for employees of both enterprises, enabling team members to interact with each other in a range of activities, while also becoming involved in many other parts of the Society’s broader operations through shared use of spaces and resources.

Eager shoppers will no doubt also be excited to know that when the second phase of this development is completed later this year, the current Glenorchy store will move to much larger premises at the Mill Lane Precinct too. 

Offering a much-expanded range of clothing, homewares and bric-a-brac, we know that this will also be a major drawcard to the community, helping add to the vitality of this site.

In all, the Mill Lane Precinct is an investment in the next generation of the St Vincent de Paul Society of Tasmania, focusing on what the community needs and where this is best delivered.