Burton Hall Training Farm

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. Maskell 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.

The Shepparton Advertiser reported that ‘considerable building was necessary’ to convert the property into a training farm. The article describes Burton Hall in a favourable light, using the words of the warden, John Adams:

Burton Hall is an old style house built in the tradition of a station homestead, with verandah running around the house, which is well screened by trees and creepers. It was converted into pleasant living quarters with the boys having a homely atmosphere with bedrooms and a sitting room, plus a communal dining room.

The boys are not delinquents, but are under-privileged in the sense that through family or personal difficulties they have been denied opportunities. The parents, knowing the value of the training provided by the Society, have elected to place them in the care of the Society, so that they will be given training in rural subjects to equip them as useful citizens.

At Tatura they have found a home, for Mr and Mrs Adams act as foster parents. The discipline is a personal one; there is no corporal punishment, but according to Mr Adams, his charges are so well behaved and keen, that he finds little need for any system of punishment. They have privileges which can be withdrawn, and these include the pictures and entertainments in Tatura (Shepparton Advertiser 23 June 1950).

In 1951, plans were agreed upon to redevelop Burton Hall, adding a second storey 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 at Romsey, called ‘Mountain View’, as an adjunct to Burton Hall (Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, p.13).