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Public Instruction Department, Orphanages Branch, State Government of Queensland

The Orphanages Branch of the Public Instruction Department was created to administer The Orphanages Act 1879 which provided for the establishment and management of asylums for orphans as well as deserted and neglected children. The Branch was responsible under the Act for the care of orphaned and deserted and neglected children.The Department ran Townsville Orphanage,…

Department of Justice and Attorney General, State Government of Queensland

The Department of Justice and Attorney General was responsible for the running of Queensland juvenile detention institutions from 2012-2017. During this time it also provided access to juvenile detention records. In 2017, the function of youth justice was moved to the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women. The Department of Justice and Attorney General…

Westbrook Youth Detention Centre

The Westbrook Youth Detention Centre, run by the government, was situated at Westbrook, 15 kilometres south west of Toowoomba. It was previously named the Westbrook Youth Centre. The institution was renamed the Westbrook Youth Detention Centre in 1993. It closed on 30 June 1994 and was transformed into the Darling Downs Correctional Centre. In March…

Westbrook Youth Centre

The Westbrook Youth Centre, run by the government, was situated at Westbrook, 15 kilometres south west of Toowoomba. It was previously called the Westbrook Training Centre and in 1993 the named changed to the Westbrook Youth Detention Centre. According to the 1999 report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Abuse of Children in Queensland…

Westbrook Training Centre

The Westbrook Training Centre, run by the government, was situated at Westbrook, 15 kilometres south west of Toowoomba. It operated as a reformatory for boys under the age of 18 who were confined by a court order. It was previously known as the Farm Home for Boys, Westbrook and in 1966 the name was changed…

Farm Home for Boys, Westbrook

The Farm Home for Boys, Westbrook was situated 15 kilometres south west of Toowoomba. It was a state-run reformatory for boys under the age of 18 who were confined by a court order. Until 1919, the institution was known as the Westbrook Reformatory for Boys. In 1966 it became known as Westbrook Training Centre. According…

Diamantina Reformatory School for Boys

The Diamantina Reformatory School for Boys, run by the government, opened at South Brisbane on 1 October 1899 when boys from the Reformatory School at Lytton were transferred to what had formerly been the Diamantina Orphanage. Boys under the age of 18, who were confined by the Children’s Court, were sent to the Diamantina Reformatory…

Reformatory School for Boys – Hulk Proserpine

The Reformatory School for Boys, run by the government, was established at Lytton in 1871, on the former prison hulk Proserpine. The hulk was declared a Reformatory School for Boys under the Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act 1865. Boys under the age of 18 years were sentenced to a term of confinement at the reformatory…

Peirson Memorial Trust Home, Bundaberg

The Peirson Memorial Trust Home, in Bundaberg, was a family group home run by the Peirson Memorial Trust. The Home opened on 1 November 1983. It was established to provide accommodation for young people, primarily residents of the Redcliffe and Heytesbury homes, to undertake apprenticeships in Bundaberg. Its funding ceased 1990. The Peirson Memorial Trust…

Darling Downs Correctional Centre

The Darling Downs Correctional Centre was an open custody facility located 15 kilometres south west of the city of Toowoomba in southern Queensland. It was run by the Queensland Government. The site was previously home to the Westbrook Youth Detention Centre which closed in 1994. In the same year the site was transformed into an…