Reiby, 1973? - 1985?, courtesy of Care Leavers Australaisa Network (CLAN).
Details
Reiby Training School was established at Airds, near Campbelltown, by the Department of Youth and Community Services in 1973. Initially, it was a home for girls defined as delinquent. In 1977, Reiby became coeducational (following the closure of the Ormond Training School). Reiby was transferred to the Department of Juvenile Justice in 1991 and became Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre.
The 1974 Annual Report of the Youth and Community Services Department described the centre, which cost 'over $2,000,000', and its official opening:
Officially opened by Sir Roden Cutler, V.C., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., C.B.E., K.St.J., on 3 August 1973, Reiby is the most modern of the recently completed, larger-type training schools. ... Accommodation is available for up to 100 girls up to the age of 18 years with the majority of the population being composed of girls 15 years and over.
According to Quinn (2006), Reiby Training Centre provided accommodation for about 90 girls aged 14 to 16. 'It followed the prevailing model of four houses of twenty inmates each, as well as a privilege cottage. As had always been the practice with girls' institutions, it was surrounded by a wall' (p.301).
Quinn also contends that that 'the principal benefit that Reiby brought was that its opening enabled, finally, the closure of the Parramatta Girls' Training School, after almost a century of operations as an industrial school' .
Quinn also cites a survey that showed that between 1981 and 1984, 16% of girls and 20% of boys admitted to Reiby were Aboriginal (p.385).
1973 - 1991 Reiby Training School
1991 - Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre
Sources used to compile this entry: Report of the Department of Youth and Community Services for the year ended 30 June, New South Wales government, 1976-1988. Also available at https://www.opengov.nsw.gov.au/main; NSW Public Service Board, Building costs: interim report (Child welfare buildings), NSW Treasury, April 1978; Quinn, Peter E, Unenlightened efficiency: the administration of the juvenile correction system in New South Wales 1905-1988, University of Sydney, History, 27 March 2006, http://hdl.handle.net/2123/623; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf; Wallace, Natasha and Jacobsen, Geesche, 'Young lives trapped inside the system', The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 April 2012, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/young-lives-trapped-inside-the-system-20120427-1xq62.html.
Prepared by: Naomi Parry and Liam Hogan
Created: 23 March 2011, Last modified: 22 November 2017
Last updated: 4 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nsw/biogs/NE00430b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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