The Organisation was formed in May 1932 as the Wollongong and District Society for Crippled Children. At the time there were limited facilities within the Illawarra for children with physical disabilities, and the Society was able to provide services that were not otherwise available to families.
The Organisation changed its Constitution and name to The Illawarra Society for Crippled Children in January 1964. In 1965 a house at 362 Crown Street was bequeathed to the Society following the death of Miss Martha Cram, and was used as a Children's Hospital and a Memorial to the Cram family. The property was modified in 1971, jointly from funds raised as result of the Lord Mayor's Appeal and Commonwealth Government funds, and was opened as ‘The Illawarra Children's Hospital (Cram House), caring for post-operative and orthopaedic patients.