Home of the Good Shepherd, Mitchelton, Brisbane, 1931, 17 December 1931, courtesy of Picture Queensland, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
Details
The Mt Maria Youth Centre, situated at 40 Prospect Street, Mitchelton, was run by the Order of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. It was previously known as Mt Maria Re-Education Centre. The name was changed in 1973 and the home closed in 1974.
By the early 1970s changing government and social attitudes towards children's care led to the closure of the Mt Maria Youth Centre. At this time the Sisters were also experiencing financial stress in trying to keep the institution open.
According to the 1999 report of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions, Mt Maria was forced to close in 1974, due to a 'rapid depletion of staff and an inability to recruit properly trained Sisters to bolster numbers', meaning the Sisters felt they were no longer able to deliver the appropriate standard of care to its residents (p.148). Between the establishment of the Home of the Good Shepherd in 1931 and the closure of Mt Maria Youth Centre in December 1974, the institution had housed over 1800 residents.
In 1978 Catholic Education purchased the Mt Maria site at Mitchelton and opened the Mt Maria Senior College, a coeducational senior secondary school. The school was administered by the Marist Brothers until 1993.
In 2013 the building and site was used as a co-educational high school, Mt. Maria, run by Brisbane Catholic Education.
1930 - 1966 Good Shepherd Home for Girls
1966 - 1973 Mt Maria Re-Education Centre, Mitchelton
c. 1973 - 1974 Mt Maria Youth Centre
Sources used to compile this entry: 'A Piece of the Story': National Directory of Records of Catholic Organisations Caring for Children Separated from Families, Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission & Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes, 1999, https://cssa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/A-Piece-of-the-Story.pdf. p.76-77.; 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.148-149.; Department of Families, Missing pieces: information to assist former residents of children's institutions to access records, State of Queensland, 2001. pp.65-66..
Prepared by: Lee Butterworth
Created: 9 April 2013, Last modified: 17 March 2015
Last updated: 18 January 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/qld/biogs/QE00573b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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