Industrial Schools

Industrial & Training Schools

Industrial Schools emerged from the child saving movement popular in the the UK and Europe in the 19th century. The purpose of the Industrial Schools were to help those children who were destitute but who had not as yet committed any serious crime.

In Australia Industrial Schools were established after the Industrial Schools Act and Reformatory Schools Act were legislated in 1866.

Newcastle Industrial School for Females

Australia's first Industrial School for Girls was established in the former convict built Newcastle Military Barracks (now the Watt Street Centre) in 1867 and the first Industrial School for Boys was established on the Nautical Training Ship Vernon which was moored at Cockatoo Island.

The Newcastle Industrial School operated until 1871 under the supervision of Matron Agnes King and Superintendent Clarke and was frequently the site of riots. The resulting public outcry forced the government to relocate it to Cockatoo Island.

Biloela Industrial School - Cockatoo Island (1871 - 1887)

In March 1871 the first girls were transferred from Newcastle. The Cockatoo Island buildings had been used since 1841 for convict re-offenders and were bleak and prison like. Biloela was managed by a Superintendent and Matron and usually held up to 120 or so girls at any given time.One of the Biloela buildings was used as a Reformatory School for a small number of girls.

To Biloela were sent girls aged between 18 months and 14 years - sometimes older up to 19 years. Confined to old prison buildings with stone floors, barred windows with no more than boards to sleep on, the girls were treated like wild animals free to roam within its confines. Corporal punishment was frequently applied and usually triggered rebellious outbursts which were invariably punished with solitary confinement.

Conditions and treatment of the girls was well known but nothing was done to improve their situation until after reforms introduced with the Boarding Out system in 1881 which eventually freed up the premises of the government owned Roman Catholic School at Parramatta in 1886.

Shaftesbury Reformatory (1878 - 1904)

In 1878 the Shaftesbury Reformatory School replaced the Reformatory School on Biloela. Until 1893 it operated under the control of the Comptroller General of Prisons and after this date by the Charitable Institutions Department. In 1901 the State Children's Relief Board took charge of the state's institutions and the management of Shaftesbury became the responsibility of the Superintendent at Parramatta.

The Shaftesbury buildings were enclosed within a 3 meter high corrugated tin fence, bars to external windows and three punishment cells. In 1904 Shaftesbury returned to the Comproller of Prisons and the Girls Reformatory function relocated to Ormond House Paddington.

Cootamundra Training Home for Girls (1912 -1969)

In 1912 Cootamundra Training Home was established by the Aborigines Welfare Board as a facility to train young aboriginal girls in the  'habits of cleanliness, obedience and morality necessary if they are to become decent and useful citizens'. Arrangements were also made for the transfer of girls from Cootamundra to Parramatta for a further period of 'training and correction'. Many aboriginal girls who ended up in Parramatta had first been placed in Cootamundra.

La Perouse Training School for Girls (1928 - 1939)

On 28 July 1928 a house situated on five acres at Yarra Bay, La Perouse was proclaimed an Industrial School for Girls following the arrival of girls transferred from the Girls’ Industrial School at Parramatta.  La Perouse operated as an annex under the control of Parramatta’s Superintendent with day to day operations managed by a Matron. It provided accommodation for up to 50 girls considered ‘less depraved and younger whose general conduct and good health justify it’ who were admitted initially to the Industrial School at Parramatta and excluded girls on criminal charges. 

Unlike Parramatta, La Perouse was an ‘open’ institution and discipline was more relaxed with girls allowed a degree of freedom to enjoy its beach side location. The school used the domestic science curriculum and emphasis was on training girls for domestic duties. La Perouse annex closed in 1939 and was converted into a Truant School for Boys known as Yarra Bay House.

Lynwood Hall

In 1939 Lynwood (Linnwood) Hall, Guildford Domestic Science Training School for female wards was established for girls who had not committed an offence. Lynwood Hall was not a punitive institution but for some it proved a stepping stone to the Industrial School for Girls. It was managed by female staff with its first Principal Mary Lamond followed by Edna McMaster, then Una Smith , Daphne Davies, Mrs Johnston, Jean King and Christine Conlon.

Thornleigh Training School for Girls,Ormond Training School

On the 28 October 1946 Thornleigh Training School for Girls was officially opened as a Privilege Home for girls committed to the Training School for Girls Parramatta. Thornleigh provided two cottage like facilities which could accommodate up to 28 who had ‘proven their ability to conform to the discipline of socially acceptable patterns of behaviour’. It was an ‘open’ institution devoid of the usual prison like constraints and was managed by a Matron with Margaret Gordon the first appointed. Additions to the site in the early sixties saw Thornleigh proclaimed as Ormond Training School in September 1962. The maximum length of stay was set at 3 months but like Parramatta was determined by the Superintendent. Once operational girls under the age of 13 years together with those considered 'less sophisticated' were no longer committed to Parramatta Girls Home but sent to Ormond instead.

Hay Girls Institution 

Hay Girls Institution was established as an annex of Parramatta Girls Home in 1961 and operated until 1974 and was a place of secondary punishment and discipline for girls who had first been committed to Parramatta. Like the earlier Shaftesbury Reformatory, Hay Girls Institution was a place were girls were subjected to brutal forms of discipline and control, unrelenting routine and hard labour. Regulations governing admission to Hay prescribed that only girls 15 years and older were to be sent to this institution, however these were not always adhered to. 

History

Gazetted in July 1961 the first girls were transferred to Parramatta in September 1961. The official term of stay was 3months however this was frequently extended. It was not unusual for girls to be sent to Hay a number of times during their term at Parramatta. Hay could take a maximum of 12 girls at a time and during its years of operations approximately 270 girls were sent there.

Transfer & Arrival

Transfers occurred at night with girls escorted by officers on the long train journey. On arrival at Narranderra station girls were then taken to the institution in the back of a lock up van. Girls were usually sedated with largactil or valium during the journey and on their arrival issued institutional clothes, had their hair cropped short and locked in a scrubbing cell usually for a period of 10 days. After this they were placed in another cell known as 'cabins' for the remainder of their stay. Each cell was furnished with a single bad, thin mattress, a blanket, sheets, pillow, bible and night can.

Discipline & Control

At Hay a girl's every movement, action and word was controlled and directed by officers. At all time girls were on silence and obliged to look to the floor "Eyes down".  The daily routine was hard labour-breaking concrete paths, digging, scrubbing, hand sewing leather and other repetitive back breaking tasks the officers determined. All communication was controlled through a procedure of 'Report to You'. No visitors, no mail, no schooling, no privacy with routine activities known as 'practices' throughout the day which was also frequently given as additional punishment. Hay was intended to break a girls spirit and for most it did - leaving many with severe post traumatic stress disorder and other physical and mental health problems.

Hay Girls Institution closed on 30th June 1974.

A State Secret

Hay remained a State Secret known to only a few until 2004 when former inmate Christina Green returned to the site in the company of ABC TV journalist. This journey was broadcast on ABC Stateline soon after. In 2007  the first official reunion of the Hay Girls Institution was organised by Bonney Djuric.

The Hay Girls Reunion was celebrated with the dedication of a plaque inscribed with the words:

"Let no child walk this path again"

 Copyright © 2006 - 2011 Parramatta Female Factory Precinct (Parragirls) All rights reserved