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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Subjects
Law and Order
Prisons
Reformatories

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Reformatories

Subject

Biloela Reformatory and Industrial School

Shaftesbury Reformatory

Vernon nautical training ship

NSS Sobraon

Neglected Children's and Juvenile Offenders Act 1905

Reformatory Schools Act 1866

Reformatory and Industrial Schools Act 1901

Vernon

Brush Farm House

Biloela Reformatory and Industrial School

Brush Farm Home for Boys

Parramatta Industrial School for Females

Shaftesbury Inebriate Institution

Shaftesbury Reformatory

Sobraon nautical training ship

Vernon nautical training ship

King, Agnes

1st Juvenile (in the extreme of female fashion) to avoid being put on the Vernon , 1867

A new chance for the wayward girl 1936

Foot drill, HMNS Vernon 1870s

Hulk of the HMAS Tingira, Berrys Bay c1935

In the library on the NSS Sobraon, 1893

Industrial school for girls, Cockatoo Island 2008

NSS Sobraon, on the deck c1890s

Nautical School Ship Sobraon c1893

Nautical School Ship Sobraon: Plan of superintendent's office, reception room and library, 1 March 1892

No You Don't! Water police repel American sailors attempting to break into Biloela 1871

Recreation hall on the NSS Sobraon 11 August 1893

Regulations for the Shaftesbury Reformatory for Females 17 February 1880

Sleeping in hammocks on the NSS Sobraon c1893

The Figure-Head of the Vernon 1868

The NSS Sobraon swimming club c1893

The school room on the NSS Sobraon c1895

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Reformatories

Biloela Reformatory and Industrial School

Product of a public controversy about neglected and wayward children, Biloela Reformatory was seen as an advance on imprisoning girls in adult gaols, but it quickly became a dysfunctional institution and lasted less than a decade.

Shaftesbury Reformatory

In 1880, the Shaftesbury Reformatory for Girls opened in a converted old hotel building on New South Head Road, Vaucluse. Several other institutions including the Shaftesbury Institute for Destitute Inebriates and the Shaftesbury Home for Mothers and Babies took the reformatory's place over the following decades, until the buildings were demolished in 1930 and the land sold.

Vernon nautical training ship

An industrial training school for destitute children founded on a ship, the Vernon, and its successor Sobraon, was designed to protect and look after wayward boys, as well as giving them useful training.

NSS Sobraon

Passenger clipper which travelled between England and Australia for 25 years before being converted to use as a reformatory ship.

full record »

Neglected Children's and Juvenile Offenders Act 1905

Legislation to make better provision for the protection, control, education, maintenance, and reformation of neglected and uncontrollable children, to provide for the establishment and control of institutions, to constitute children's courts and to provide for the licensing and regulation of children trading in streets.

full record »

Reformatory Schools Act 1866

Legislation that established reformatory schools to which any child under 16 could be sent if convicted of a criminal offence, for up to five years.

full record »

Reformatory and Industrial Schools Act 1901

Act that repealed the 1866 Reformatory and 1866 Destitute Children's Acts. It retained provisions for offenders under sixteen, and for vagrant and destitute children, and provided a court with the power to commit a child to the care of a relative, a named person, the State Children's Relief Board or to a public industrial school.

full record »

Vernon

Former merchant ship which became a nautical school or reformatory ship for boys learning trades under naval discipline. The anchors are to be found at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

full record »

Brush Farm House

Georgian mansion constructed 1820 by Gregory Blaxland on his Brush Farm Estate in the Ryde area.

full record »

Biloela Reformatory and Industrial School

Reform school for girls established on Cockatoo Island in 1871.

full record »

Brush Farm Home for Boys

The Carpentarian Boys Reformatory which was created in 1894 at Brush Farm, the house built in Eastwood by Gregory Blaxland. After the reformatory was closed the building operated as a home for nursing women and then for girls.

full record »

Parramatta Industrial School for Females

Girls' home set up for neglected and 'uncontrollable' girls. It served a dual purpose as shelter for girls awaiting court appearances and as a reformatory. Conditions were draconian and punishment severe with little schooling but harsh 'training duties' including laundry and cleaning.

full record »

Shaftesbury Inebriate Institution

The only state run institution for alcohol and drug offenders of its time, the Shaftesbury Inebriate Institution at Vaucluse was established in 1915. Initially catering for men only, in 1916 a ward for women was opened. Patients could also be admitted voluntarily, for a fee. Most of the patients were relocated in 1927 and the Institution formally closed in 1929.

full record »

Shaftesbury Reformatory

Cottage-style reformatory for girls on South Head Road, Vaucluse.

full record »

Sobraon nautical training ship

The second nautical training school on the ship Sobraon at Cockatoo Island, designed to rehabilitate destitute boys.

full record »

Vernon nautical training ship

full record »

The first nautical training school, on a ship moored in Sydney Harbour, which aimed to rehabilitate and train juvenile offenders.

King, Agnes

Matron and superintendent of reformatories Biloela and then Shaftesbury. She arrived in New South Wales in 1862 and established the reformatory for girls at Newcastle before coming to Sydney.

full record »

1st Juvenile (in the extreme of female fashion) to avoid being put on the Vernon , 1867

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Sydney Punch, June 15, 1867 p 30)

A new chance for the wayward girl 1936

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Sydney Morning Herald, 6 October 1936, Women's Supplement, p12 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1139642)

Foot drill, HMNS Vernon 1870s

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[NRS 4481: Sh47]

Hulk of the HMAS Tingira, Berrys Bay c1935

full record »

By

Edward William Searle

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-vn4654096]

In the library on the NSS Sobraon, 1893

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[4481_a026_000978]

Industrial school for girls, Cockatoo Island 2008

full record »

By

Contributed By

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/38025475@N04/3498214493/]

NSS Sobraon, on the deck c1890s

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[4481_a026_000004]

Nautical School Ship Sobraon c1893

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[4481_a026_000001]

Nautical School Ship Sobraon: Plan of superintendent's office, reception room and library, 1 March 1892

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[NRS 12444, SR Plan 1233]

(Public Works Harbours and Rivers: Maps and plans, 1822-1917)

No You Don't! Water police repel American sailors attempting to break into Biloela 1871

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Sydney Punch, December 30, 1871, p 49)

Recreation hall on the NSS Sobraon 11 August 1893

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[4481_a026_000976]

Regulations for the Shaftesbury Reformatory for Females 17 February 1880

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[New South Wales Government Gazette, 17 February 1880, p821, via Trove]

Sleeping in hammocks on the NSS Sobraon c1893

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[4481_a026_000002]

The Figure-Head of the Vernon 1868

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Sydney Punch, 18 January 1868, p 55)

The NSS Sobraon swimming club c1893

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[4481_a026_000977]

The school room on the NSS Sobraon c1895

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[4481_a026_000005]

Prisons