Family planning and reproductive health in Queensland

In 2024, True Relationships & Reproductive Health (formerly Family Planning Queensland) donated its extensive archive to State Library of Queensland. 

Formed in 1971, the then Family Planning Association of Queensland (F.P.A.Q.) emerged at a time when access to information for unmarried couples was very limited. In socially and politically conservative Queensland, sex education in schools was rare, abortion was illegal, and pregnancy tests and contraception were difficult to obtain. Queensland’s teenage pregnancy rate was the highest in Australia. 

The vital aim of the Association was to provide clinical services and family planning training to both medical professionals and the wider community, and to make contraceptive information more freely available. 

Once established, the Association grew quickly. Through the determination of its dedicated volunteer members and supporters, the first clinic opened in Fortitude Valley in March 1972, followed by clinics in the Gold Coast, Ipswich, Mount Gravatt, Toowoomba and the Sunshine Coast by 1989. Later clinics opened in Cairns, Rockhampton and Bundaberg. 

The Association’s founding members were the driving force behind its rapid development, and included Marjorie Millburn, Administrator then Chief Executive Officer for almost thirty years. June Morris established both clinical and education services. Dr John Campbell was a founding member of the Board. Doctors Pam Chick and June Howard both held the position of Medical Director, and Helen Draper became the Association’s first Publicity Officer, overseeing several successful promotional campaigns, particularly those which addressed the spread of HIV/AIDs during the 1980s. 

These trailblazers transformed the Association from a single volunteer-run clinic to a highly professional statewide organisation that has contributed immensely to the evolution of Queensland’s reproductive and sexual health services. 

The collection material reflects this rapid evolution, and includes organisational histories, correspondence, clippings, policy papers and strategic plans. Of particular note are the extensive educational resources, from teaching kits and guides, manuals, card kits and reports, ephemera, factsheets, and an array of educational posters and brochures which cover every aspect of reproductive health. Several albums of photographs provide an additional and valuable record of the Association’s activities spanning 50 years. 

In 2002 the Association changed its name to Family Planning Queensland, then again in 2015 to True Relationships & Reproductive Health. Today, the organisation maintains clinics in Brisbane, Cairns, Ipswich, Rockhampton and Toowoomba, and offers sexual violence counselling and educational courses and resources across the state.

Items from the collection will be on display in the Philip Bacon Heritage Gallery on Level 4 as part of the Extraordinary Stories exhibition from October 2025 until June 2026.

Further reading:

Acc. 34252 Family Planning Queensland archive

Additional Family Planning Queensland resources at State Library

Birds, bees and birth control: a history of Family Planning in Queensland 1971-2001 / by Sylvia Bell Bannah