Australia's Lady Gowrie Child Centres, established in 1940 in state capitals, represent a continuing commitment to early childhood education by the Australian federal government. The six centers were built with an emphasis on outdoor space in inner-city, high-density, industrial, and slum areas where overcrowding and poor living conditions negatively affect children's health. The Lady Gowrie Child Centres were established in the best traditions of the kindergarten movement. They were compensatory and targeted at improving the lot of working class children and their parents. While establishment of the Centres provided models in terms of buildings, equipment, teaching practices, and research functions, they did little to address the dichotomous attitudes towards care and education that had been entrenched in most Australian states since the 1920s. Today the Gowries operate as multipurpose services providing "long day care," family day care, preschool, occasional care, information and referral services, staff development programs, a library and bookshop, and a range of specialized projects that support children with special needs and rural and remote families. (RH)