Victoria’s first maternal and child health service started in 1917, with Ballarat soon opening its own in 1923.

Now 99 per cent of Ballarat families with a baby use the service in the first year of their child’s life. It had 1561 new enrolments in 2016 alone and the city’s parents can access it until children turn six.

Eighteen former maternal and child health nurses met at Ballarat Town Hall to celebrate the milestone on Friday.

Lyn Hedger started as a nurse in 1984 and has spent more than 30 years with the program.

She said it had initially involved drop-in sessions before it became more professional.

“Up to the 90s the situation was much the same as when the project started in the 20s,” she said.

“The idea was nurses would be placed around the community to service the areas where people lived.

“The department  wanted women to be in walking distance of the service, because mothers did not have cars back then, they walked.”

The service has come along way from its beginnings at the town hall’s Red Cross room and Ballarat East Town Hall in January, 1923.

Mayor William Elsworth opened the service two years after Ballarat East and Ballarat amalgamated into Ballarat City in 1921.

It has grown to now include 24 nurses, five casual staff members and social workers.

Staff now look after more than child health. The mother’s physical and mental well-being have also become key concerns.

Program manager Bernie Cavanagh said there was now a more holistic approach to the service.

“We have a strong focus on perinatal illness now and expanded to a strong welfare role,” she said.

Council has a maternal and child health centre at Wendouree, Buninyong and Sebastopol and the Girrabanya centre on Steinfeld and Peel streets.