The Townsville Receiving Depot was previously known as the Townsville Orphanage. The Townsville Receiving Depot was a government-run institution, and filled the role of reception, care and boarding out of children to foster homes. In 1964, it became known as Carramar Children's Home.
The 1999 report of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions referred to the poor condition of the buildings at Townsville Receiving Depot in the 1960s (children moved into new buildings in 1966, at which time it was known as Carramar Children's Home).
A witness to the inquiry, placed at the Depot in 1957, recollected it as 'large, unfriendly and impersonal' (p.76). Another witness described how girls from the Home wore gingham dresses to school, rather than the regulation State school uniform, making them easily identifiable as 'Home kids' (p.85).
1878 - 1934 Townsville Orphanage
1934 - 1964 Townsville Receiving Depot
1964 - 1967 Carramar Children's Home
1967 - 1995 Carramar Receiving and Assessment Centre
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Carramar (Agency ID2493)', in Queensland State Archives website, Queensland Government, 2004 - 2013, http://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/Search/AgencyDetails.aspx?AgencyId=2493; Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions, Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions, Queensland. Department of Families, Youth and Community Care, Brisbane, 1999. p.62, 65, 76, 85.; Department of Families, Missing pieces: information to assist former residents of children's institutions to access records, State of Queensland, 2001. p.13..
Prepared by: Lee Butterworth
Created: 20 July 2011, Last modified: 13 March 2015
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/qld/biogs/QE00197b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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