Biloela Reformatory School for Females was established in 1871 and was located in a small cottage on Cockatoo Island within the grounds of Biloela Industrial School. Girls were transferred to Biloela Reformatory School from Newcastle Reformatory School for Girls when it closed. Biloela Reformatory School for Females shut on 5 February 1800 and girls were transferred to Shaftesbury Reformatory School.
The Reformatory School operated within the site of the Biloela Industrial School for Girls for the small number of girls charged with criminal offences. In practice the girls were not kept seperately and there were many issues with the schools including regualar rioting and lewd behaviour.
The Reformatory School was closed in 1880 and girls were transferred to Shaftesbury Reformatory, which was located at Double Bay.
1869 - 1871 Newcastle Reformatory School for Females
1871 - 1880 Biloela Reformatory School for Females
1880 - 1904 Shaftesbury Reformatory School
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Industrial Schools and Reformatory (1871 to 1911)', in Cockatoo Island, NSW Government, http://www.cockatooisland.gov.au/en/our-story/industrial-schools/; Ramsland, John, Children of the back lanes: destitute and neglected children in colonial New South Wales, University of New South Wales Press, Kensington, 1986, 249 pp; 'Shaftesbury Reformatory', in State Records Authority of New South Wales website, State of New South Wales through the State Records Authority of NSW 2016, https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/agency/461.
Prepared by: Nicola Laurent
Created: 9 February 2015, Last modified: 19 February 2015