The Dreadnought Trust was one of the first organisations to be involved in child migration in New South Wales. It raised funds to bring British child and youth migrant boys to Australia. The first Dreadnought Boys arrived in 1911. The scheme ended around the time of the Great Depression, in 1930.
The Dreadnought Trust was established in 1909 when a meeting at Sydney Town Hall resolved to raise money to purchase a battleship for the British Navy. However the Australian Government decided in 1910 to establish an Australian navy, rendering the subscription irrelevant.
A large part of the £90,000 raised was instead placed in a fund to bring British child migrant boys to Australia for training and assignment as rural workers. The first Dreadnought boys arrived in New South Wales in 1911, although the scheme was halted in 1914. It resumed in 1921, stopping again in 1930 because of the Depression.
On arrival in Sydney the Dreadnought Boys were sent to government run farms at Yanco, Cowra, Arrawatta, Glen Innes, Grafton, and Wollongbar. More than half the migrants went to Scheyville near Pitt Town.