The Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Centre, at Windsor, was a State government-run institution for 'trouble-makers', emotionally disturbed children, and those who had broken the law. It came into being in 1983 and was formerly the Wilson Youth Hospital.
The report of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions (1999) discussed changing functions at the Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Centre, as changes were made in the management of juvenile justice institutions in Queensland.
In 1987 the functions of Wilson changed with the opening of the John Oxley Youth Centre. Girls were transferred to John Oxley and Wilson served as a short-term remand and transit facility for boys. The situation changed once more, however, in 1994 with the closure of Westbrook Youth Detention Centre. The pressures of finding accommodation for the former residents of Westbrook forced the transfer of all girls back from John Oxley to Wilson, as well as the admission of some difficult boys to Wilson. These developments clearly placed the institution under considerable pressure. The institution's name was changed once again, to the Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Detention Centre, reflecting the fact that it was no longer exclusively a remand centre (p.160).
Wilson Youth Centre was mentioned in the Bringing Them Home Report (1997) as an institution that housed Indigenous children removed from their families.
1961 - 1983 Wilson Youth Hospital
1983 - 1993 Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Centre
1993 - 2001 Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Detention Centre
Sources used to compile this entry: Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions, Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions, Queensland. Department of Families, Youth and Community Care, Brisbane, 1999. pp.160-162.; Department of Families, Missing pieces: information to assist former residents of children's institutions to access records, State of Queensland, 2001; National Museum of Australia, 'Inside: Life in childrens' homes: A violent, unjust and dehumanising system', in Inside blog, 2010, https://insideblog.nma.gov.au/2010/09/29/the-good-priest/.
Prepared by: Lee Butterworth
Created: 27 July 2011, Last modified: 5 September 2017
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/qld/biogs/QE00201b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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