The Bukawert Reformatory School opened in 1894 near Toora, in the county of Buln Buln, South Gippsland. It was gazetted as a ‘reformatory school for Protestant boys’ in 1894, and was located on the premises of Henry Beresford Sadleir, who was appointed as the Superintendent. It closed in 1899.
The Bukawert Reformatory School was a private reformatory, which attempted to extend to the boys who were sent there the advantages of the boarding out system. The policy intended to ‘strengthen the hand’ of the superintendent by placing as few children as possible in each school, thus enabling him to take an interest in each boy in order to exert a reforming influence. The School was privately run by Sadlier, but was deemed to be an approved Reformatory School by the Department of Reformatory Schools under the Juvenile Offenders Act of 1887. The Department sent state wards to the school, and provided financial support for each boy sent there. The Superintendent provided annual reports to the Department, and the school was periodically inspected by government inspectors.
In 1898 the school moved to another site as a result of a bushfire. At the time three boys were at the school, five were ‘at service’ and two boys were on probation.
The school closed in 1899.
From
1894
To
1899
1894 - 1899
Bukawert Reformatory School was situated near Toora (South Gippsland), Victoria