Our History

Susan Barton AM, founder of the Lighthouse Foundation and 2009's Melburnian of the Year is a woman whose passion and inspiration has been the driving force of Lighthouse.

She began her work with homeless kids 34 years ago. While volunteering in an orphanage in Sri Lanka, a baby who she had held during the afternoon, died later that evening. This one single occurrence changed her life. On her return to Australia, Susan, a mother of six herself, began fostering children in her own home and thus developed the unique model of Lighthouse family care.

In 1991, with support from the business community, the Lighthouse Foundation was officially formed to support and expand this work, and to eventually fulfil her vision of Lighthouses being open for young people in danger of homelessness.