YHA celebrates 75 years in Australia

YHA Australia has celebrated 75 years since its establishment in Australia.

A member association of Hostelling International, Australia’s youth hostelling association has grown into the nation’s largest budget accommodation network

YHA Australia was established in Melbourne on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, with the formation of YHA Victoria.

The day after Prime Minister Robert Menzies declared that Australia was at war with Germany, an  group of optimists forged ahead with founding a youth hostel movement on 4th September 1939, opening the first YHA at Warrandyte, on the outskirts of Melbourne soon after.

This was followed by the formation of YHA New South Wales (1942), YHA South Australia (1949), YHA Tasmania (1951), YHA Western Australia (1951), YHA Queensland (1962) and YHA Northern Territory (1976).

The global youth hostel movement had begun in Europe in 1909, when a German school teacher, Richard Schirrmann, first conceived of the idea of a ‘classroom of the outdoors’.

The first permanent youth hostel was established in 1912 at Altena Castle in Germany and still operates today.

There are now more than 4,000 youth hostels worldwide in 80 countries, providing comfortable, quality, budget accommodation.

A membership-based, not-for-profit organisation, YHA Australia now has a network of 90 places to stay across Australia, bookable, from train carriages at Railway Square YHA in Sydney to eco-hostels on the Great Ocean Road and rainforest retreats in Queensland, YHA offers a welcoming place for Australian and international travellers.

YHA Australia maintains its original mission today: “To provide opportunity for all, but especially young people, for education by personal development, fostering friendship, and bringing about a better understanding of others and the world around them.”

In this milestone year, YHA Ltd also has a new President, former Olympic rower James Tomkins OAM - one of the original ‘Oarsome Foursome’.

For more information and bookings go to www.yha.com.au