The Burton Hall Training Farm, run by the Church of England, was one of the institutions in Victoria to receive child migrants. In around 1950, the Church of England Boys' Society closed its Training Farm at Yering, and its residents were transferred to the Burton Hall Training Farm. From this time, the Society's activities in farm training were conducted under the name 'The CEBS Farm Training Scheme for Boys'.
In response to the Church's Public Farm Appeal in 1947, Mr A.G. Maskill donated the 300 acre farm at Tatura to the Church of England Boys' Society (CEBS).
At the annual meeting of the Society in 1947, the plans were announced to bring 75 boys from the United Kingdom to Australia to train alongside local boys in farming.
In 1950, the Farm at Tatura received boys from the CEBS Training Farm at Yering, when that property was sold off. In a newspaper advertisement in July 1950, the Society compared Tatura's 'cottage system' of accommodation with the 'institutional conditions' at Yering.
In 1951, plans were agreed upon to redevelop Burton Hall, adding a second story for extra accommodation and erecting a new dairy. There was no electricity supply to Burton Hall until 1954, when these works were completed.
In 1967, the Farm Training Scheme at Burton Hall was curtailed. After this, farming continued on the site and funds raised went to support a hostel in Canterbury, Molloy House. In 1969 CEBS purchased a small farm adjacent to Burton Hall at Romsey, called 'Mountain View' (Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, p.13).
Sources used to compile this entry: Tatura Farm given to CEBS appeal, The Argus, 24 February 1948, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22527754; Church of England Boys' Society: training farms, The Argus, 28 July 1950, 7 pp, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22913827; Statement of the Most Reverend Philip Freier. Schedule A: The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, 2016, https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/STAT.1297.002.0003.pdf; Senate Community Affairs References Committee Secretariat, Parliament of Australia, Lost Innocents: righting the record - report on child migration, Commonwealth of Australia, 30 August 2001, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/completed_inquiries/1999-02/child_migrat/report/index.htm.
Prepared by: Cate O'Neill
Created: 6 March 2009, Last modified: 11 January 2019