The government-run Reformatory for Girls was located at Sunbury from 1865 to 1875. It was located on the same site as the Sunbury Industrial School, about half a mile away. In 1875, girls were relocated from Sunbury to a new reformatory, located at Coburg. The institution was sometimes referred to as the Reformatory for Protestant…
The Ballarat Boys’ Reformatory opened in 1879, in a building formerly used as an industrial school for girls. Before that, boys had been at the Jika Reformatory in Coburg. The Ballarat building had accommodation for 200. In 1879, there were 95 inmates, with the department hoping to increase it to 121 when the last boys…
The Boys’ Farm School at the Macedon State Nursery was established around late 1882 or early 1883. Boys and young men from industrial schools or in boarding out placements were placed there to be trained in gardening skills. It closed around 1885. The Macedon State Nursery had been established in 1872, to provide trees to…
The Boys’ Farm School, Dookie opened in 1881. It provided training for boys from Victorian industrial schools and boarding out placements in farming. It closed in 1886 when a government agricultural college opened on the site. The 4800 acre property was in north-eastern Victoria, with “a short frontage to the Broken River on the south,…
The Newcastle Shelter was established in 1906 as temporary accommodation for children awaiting hearings at the local Children’s Court, children who were on remand, or who were otherwise in the custody of the police. It operated from the private home of Miss King, who, along with her daughter, ran the shelter with support from the…
Marribank Farm Training School was continued on the site of the Carrolup Native Settlement when the Settlement closed in June 1951. Some teenage Aboriginal boys from Carrolup were the first residents. In June 1952, the government closed the Marribank Farm Training School, which re-opened later in 1952 on the same site, as a Baptist Union…
The East Perth Girls’ Home was opened in 1931 by the Aborigines Department as a hostel for young women to stay and receive training in domestic service. Over time, pregnant women were sent there to await the birth of babies and it was a reception centre for ‘half-caste’ boys and girls before they were placed…
Udialla Station was established south of Derby in 1944 as a government-run training facility for ‘part-Aboriginal’ people, including children under the guardianship of the Commissioner of Native Welfare. Udialla closed in 1949 and the residents were transferred to the La Grange Bay Feeding Depot. Udialla Station was purchased by the Department of Native Affairs on…
Barton’s Mill Prison originally functioned as a timber workers’ camp. In 1942 the military requisitioned Fremantle Prison at short notice, leaving authorities with no option but to find another location for the inmates. Barton’s Mill was chosen, initially housing all prisoners until escapees and those considered a maximum security risk were returned to Fremantle. Young…
Ellensbrook Farm Home, near Busselton, was a government-run ‘farm home’ established in 1899 by the Aborigines Department. Up to 11 Aboriginal women and children were admitted for education and training. It closed in 1917. Ellensbrook Farm Home, on the south-west coast, was a ‘domestic-scale’ farm home for Aboriginal children and women. There is some doubt…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
