The Parramatta Girls Home, also known as Parramatta Girls Industrial School, Industrial School for Girls, Girls Training School and Girls Training Home, was a

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

-controlled child-welfare institution located in ,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia, which operated from 1887 until 1974. In 2017 the site became

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

as part of the

Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct Parramatta (; ) is a suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is commonly regarded as the secondary central business dist ...

History

Parramatta Girls Home was established in the former premises of the Roman Catholic Orphan School and was the third in a succession of child-welfare institutions for girls. Australia's first industrial school for girls was established in 1867 in the former military barracks at

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and was known as the Newcastle Industrial School and Reformatory for Girls. In 1871, the Newcastle school closed and the remaining inmates were transferred to a new facility established on

Cockatoo Island Cockatoo Island Wareamah is a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the confluence of the Parramatta River and Lane Cove River in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. Cockatoo Island is the largest of several harbour islands that were once ...

known as the Biloela Industrial School for Girls, which operated until 1887.Parramatta Girls Home History
parragirls.org. The Parramatta Girls Home served the dual purpose of both a

reformatory A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concern ...

and training school, with girls committed to the institution on "complaints" under the ''Child Welfare Act 1939'' (NSW) as "delinquent" — uncontrollable, absconding from proper custody, breached probation; "neglected" — exposed to moral danger, no fixed place of abode and destitute, improper guardianship, truant; or "offences juvenile offenders, Crimes Act" — stealing, assaults, robbery, murder, sex offences, malicious damage.

Disciplinary issues

The mixing of these distinct types of individuals within the confines of one institution was problematic for authorities at the time. Authorities realised that innocent girls were being exposed to the corrupting behaviour of others. Attempts to ensure the safety of innocent girls led to the creation of two divisions within the institution. The first was the establishment of a "training home" in the former hospital building near the main site. The training home was in operation from 1912 until around 1926, at which time an alternative site was established at La Perouse, known as both the "Girls Training School" and "Yarra Bay House". The population of the girls home included many

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

girls, mostly those who belong to the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Gover ...

, and was dominated by girls whose families experienced poverty or abuse, or girls who had been orphaned or made state wards at an early age. While in the home, school-aged girls received minimal education, with most kept occupied in training as

domestic servants A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly de ...

. The closed operations of the institution, authoritarian rule, daily routine and poor conditions, encouraged a climate of abuse and bullying. In securing their own safety, girls would form allegiances, and, as with the culture in prisons, developed a lover (or kinship) system through exchanged notes, hand-holding, kissing, scratching initials into their body and secret codes — ILWA (I love worship adore/always), or TID (till I die), or SML — used to express affection. With the arrival or discharge of girls, new allegiances were developed, often causing petty jealousies and disputes. A rebuffed girl would often resort to a form of retaliation called "dogging" or a "top off", meaning that she would report her rival to an officer for a breach of rules. Riots occurred frequently, with the first officially investigated one taking place in 1889. Other riots occurred during the 1940s, in 1958, and 1961, with most attributed to the treatment that the girls were receiving. Until 1961, girls who had committed a "secondary" (institutional) offence, called "conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline", were sent to Long Bay Prison for three months. This arrangement changed in July 1961, when the Hay Institution for Girls was established as a maximum security annex of Parramatta Girls Home. Numerous male staff, and occasionally other girls, were said to have physically and sexually abused the inmates. A public hearing heard evidence about 11 men, most of whom were superintendents or deputies at Parramatta Girls. These men were entrusted with the girls' care but witnesses spoke of regular bashings,

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

s, and assaults. Most of the alleged perpetrators were never reported or investigated. Others resigned or were dismissed after inquiries into their conduct. No criminal charges were laid on the alleged perpetrators.

Closure

Parramatta Girls Home was officially closed in July 1974, but continued to operate as a welfare institution under a new name, "Kamballa" and "Taldree". In 1980, the

Department of Corrective Services The New South Wales Department of Prisons, later the Department of Corrective Services (DCS), was a State government agency in New South Wales, Australia, that managed prisons, parole and community service. Established in 1874 as the Departmen ...

took over the main buildings and was subsequently operated as the Norma Parker Detention Centre for Women. Most of the site was vacant in 2014, when it was reported that the site would be considered for the

National Heritage List The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of National heritage site, national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The li ...

, after a nomination from a group of former inmates in 2011. In 2017 it became part of the

, a listed place.

Inquiries and apologies

A 2004

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Inquiry by the Community Affairs References Committee included statements by twenty former residents of the Parramatta Girls Home about their experiences there. The Australian Prime Minister

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

gave a formal apology to the Stolen Generations in February 2008. The

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a royal commission announced in November 2012 and established in 2013 by the Australian government pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act 1902 to inquire into and repo ...

heard in 2014 from sixteen women who made statements that during their time at the Parramatta Girls Home they were subjected to sexual and physical abuse.

History

Disciplinary issues

Closure

Inquiries and apologies

See also

References

Further reading