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Western Australia - Organisation

Tardun Farm School (1928 - 2008)

  • Tardun Slideshow, Part 1

    Tardun Slideshow, Part 1, 1940s - 1960s, courtesy of Christian Brothers Institution Albums 1 & 2 (Holy Spirit Collection).
    Details

From
1928
To
2008
Categories
Catholic, Farm School, Home, Orphanage and Receiving Agency
Alternative Names
  • Clontarf Boys' Farm, Tardun (also known as, 1935)
  • St Mary's Agricultural School (also known as, 1928 - 2008)
  • Tardun Agricultural College (also known as, 1937 - 2008)

Tardun Farm School was run by the Christian Brothers from 1928 as a Home where boys would learn farm skills. After World War II, Tardun housed British and Maltese child migrants aged from about 12 to 16 years as well as boys who were wards of state. Tardun Farm School closed in 1967 but remained open as an agricultural boarding school where some children were placed by the departments responsible for child welfare. Tardun closed at the end of 2008.

Details

Tardun Farm School was established by the Christian Brothers in 1928 as St Mary's Agricultural School.

The 'Tardun Agricultural College' was described in the Report of the Royal Commission on Youth Employment and the Apprenticeship System in 1938:

The object of the school...is to recruit orphan boys from the Clontarf Orphanage at about the age of 12 to 15 years and give them a training in agricultural methods sufficient to enable them to conduct farming operations or to accept work as farm labourers. No fees are charged. The boys live on the farm. The idea is to select land and establish the most promising boys on their own farms. As regards the other boys, the Brothers place them in employment when they are ready, their wages ranging from 12s. 6d. To £2 10s. per week and keep. The school has initiated a system of instructing the boys in general educational subjects and putting them up for the Junior examination of the University - a policy to be recommended. The Principal of the school (Brother Conlon) states that there is no lack of application for the boys when they have finished their training. Report of the Royal Commissioner on Youth Employment and the Apprenticeship System, 1938, p.lxix

The Royal Commissioner recommended (p.lxx) that the Government pay a maintenance allowance of 10 shillings per week for each 'destitute orphan boy' at Tardun provided the school undertook vocational and general education and training to the satisfaction of the Education Department. By 1940, this recommendation had not been implemented.

After World War II, Tardun admitted boys from various backgrounds including Wards of the State, child migrants, orphans and private admissions. Australian-born boys, and British and Maltese child migrants aged from about 12 to 16 years lived at Tardun. In 1967, the Farm School became an agricultural boarding and day school, which operated on the site until the end of 2008. Some children continued to be placed at Tardun by the departments responsible for child welfare.

The Christian Brothers' institutions Bindoon, Clontarf, Castledare and Tardun first received widespread publicity about child abuse in the early 1990s. In 1993, the Christian Brothers in Western Australia issued an apology and from 1995 have funded independent services to help with family tracing, counselling and remedial education for men who had suffered in their institutions. Many former residents of these institutions have shared their experiences and memories (bad and good) at government inquiries, in books and in oral histories.

Events

1928 - 1967
Location - Tardun Farm School was located at Tardun. Location: Tardun

Related Events

Related Glossary Terms

Related Organisations

Publications

Books

  • Coldrey, Barry M., The Scheme: the Christian Brothers and Childcare in Western Australia, Argyle-Pacific Pub., O'Connor, W.A., 1993. Details
  • Hawkins, John Patrick, The bush orphanage : recollections of a British child migrant and the truth about Australia's human trafficking past, Jolo, Docklands, Victoria, 2009. Details
  • Knight, Ivor Alan, Out of darkness : growing up with the Christian brothers, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, South Fremantle, 1998. Details
  • Plowman, David, Enduring Struggle, Scholastic Press Australia, Broadway, Nedlands, Western Australia, 2003. Tardun Farm School is the focus of the book. Details

Online Resources

Photos

Presentation Sisters at Tardun
Title
Presentation Sisters at Tardun
Type
Image
Source
Christian Brothers Institution Albums 1 & 2 (Holy Spirit Collection)

Details

The Christian Brothers' Agricultural School, Tardun, Western Australia
Title
The Christian Brothers' Agricultural School, Tardun, Western Australia
Type
Document
Date
c. 1936

Details

Farm Schools
Title
Farm Schools
Type
Document
Date
28 February 1938
Source
Parliament of Western Australia

Details

Tardun Slideshow, Part 1
Title
Tardun Slideshow, Part 1
Type
Video
Date
1940s - 1960s
Source
Christian Brothers Institution Albums 1 & 2 (Holy Spirit Collection)

Details

Tardun Slideshow, Part 2
Title
Tardun Slideshow, Part 2
Type
Video
Date
1940s - 1960s
Source
Christian Brothers Institution Albums 1 & 2 (Holy Spirit Collection)

Details

CEMWA Response to Moss Questionnaire
Title
CEMWA Response to Moss Questionnaire
Type
Document
Date
1951
Source
National Archives of Australia

Details

John Moss C.B.E. U.K. Child Welfare Expert. Visit to Australia. Part II
Title
John Moss C.B.E. U.K. Child Welfare Expert. Visit to Australia. Part II
Type
Document
Date
1951 - 1952
Source
National Archives of Australia
Note
There is information about Tardun in the John Moss Visit to Australia file Part II, please see pp.29, 110, 138, 140

Details

Enquiry by Mr. John Moss. Points on which information is needed as to provision for the welfare of children emigrating from the United Kingdom to Australia
Title
Enquiry by Mr. John Moss. Points on which information is needed as to provision for the welfare of children emigrating from the United Kingdom to Australia
Type
Document
Date
10 May 1951
Source
National Archives of Australia

Details

Enduring Struggle
Title
Enduring Struggle
Type
Image
Date
2003

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: 'The Success of Bundidup', Sunday Times, 20 October 1935, p. 15, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58744165; Report of the Royal Commission on Youth Employment and the Apprenticeship System, Royal Commissions Held in Western Australia, Parliament of Western Australia, 28 February 1938, http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/intranet/libpages.nsf/WebFiles/Royal+Commission+1938/$FILE/RC1.pdf. pp.lxix, lxx.; 'Motion - Child Welfare Department. Maintenance of Children', in Hansard Archive 1870 to 1995, Parliament of Western Australia, 4 December 1940, https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Hansard/hansard1870to1995.nsf/83cc4ce93b5d4e0b48257b33001cfef6/BF96AA998FE9A93748257A4E0010E9F2/$File/19401204_Assembly.pdf; 'World's biggest college to close in WA', CathNews, 11 August 2008, https://web.archive.org/web/20211128025937/http://cathnews.com/archives/cath-news-archive/10657-quotworlds-biggest-quot-college-to-close-in-wa; Coldrey, Barry M., The Scheme: the Christian Brothers and Childcare in Western Australia, Argyle-Pacific Pub., O'Connor, W.A., 1993; Information Services, Department for Community Development, 'p.517, Table 55: Young People at Tardun Farm School, Certain Years between 1934 and 1970', Signposts: A Guide for Children and Young People in Care in WA from 1920, Government of Western Australia, 2004, https://signposts.communities.wa.gov.au//pdf/pdf.aspx; Parliament of Australia Senate, Forgotten Australians: A report on Australians who experienced institutional or out-of-home care as children, Senate Community Affairs References Committee, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/report/index.htm.

Prepared by: Debra Rosser