Organisation Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools (1864 - 1887)

"The Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools came into being with the passage of the Neglected and Criminal Children's Act 1864. Children who were deemed to be neglected were to be sent to industrial schools. Children could be deemed neglected if they were found begging, without a home or means of support, residing with thieves, prostitutes or drunkards or declared to be uncontrollable by their parents. Children convicted of any offence could be sent to a reformatory school but justices had the authority to take their age and circumstances into account and to send them instead to an industrial school.

Children in both classes of institution were to be given access to general education and industrial training, and children as young as eight were expected to work for at least part of the day in activities such as domestic work, cooking, laundering, tailoring, baking, shoe making, dairying, gardening and farming. Boys on the training ship Nelson and the reformatory Sir Harry Smith were to be trained as sailors.

Following a Board of Inquiry into the industrial schools established since the passing of the 1864 Act, the government formed a separate Industrial Schools Department, under the Chief Secretary. On 19 February 1866 George W. Duncan, the Inspector-General of the Penal Department, was appointed Inspector of Industrial Schools.

Duncan's annual reports beginning in 1867 (Parliamentary Papers 1867, Vol. 4, pp.941ff) describe the functioning of the schools and the establishment and operations of his Office which is first described as a department in the report of 23 June 1876.

Royal Commissions and Inspectors General often criticised the adequacy of the arrangements for neglected children under the 1864 Act, and industrial schools were eventually abolished in the 1880s and replaced by a system of 'boarding out' of wards to foster homes. In 1879, management of the schools was separated from the position of Inspector and placed in the hands of local committees. In addition, two Visiting Committees, of identical composition but charged separately for each class of school, were appointed to inspect and report. In 1881, management of the department was vested in George Guillaume who was appointed Secretary of the Department on 4 August of that year. A separate position of Inspector continued to be filled.

In 1887 following the proclamation of the Neglected Children's Act (No.941) and the Juvenile Offenders' Act (No.951) responsibility for neglected children was assumed by a Department for Neglected Children and a Department for Reformatory Schools assumed responsibility for convicted juveniles." (PROV entry: Agency VA 1466 Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools)

Timeline

 1864 - 1887 Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools
       1887 - 1900 Department for Neglected Children
       1887 - 1900 Department of Reformatory Schools
             1901 - 1924 Department for Neglected Children
             1901 - 1954 Department of Reformatory Schools
                   1924 - 1960 Children's Welfare Department
                         1960 - 1970 Social Welfare Branch
                               1970 - 1978 Social Welfare Department
                                     1978 - 1985 Department of Community Welfare Services
                                           1985 - 1992 Community Services Victoria
                                                 1992 - 1995 Health and Community Services
                                                       1995 - Department of Human Services

Reports

• Industrial Schools. Report of the Inspector, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1866 - 1868. Details
• Industrial and Reformatory Schools. Report of the Inspector/Secretary, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1869 - 1886. Details
• Guillaume, George; Connor, Edward C., The Development and Working of the Reformatory and Preventive Systems in the Colony of Victoria, Australia, 1864-1890, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1891. Also available at http://catalogue.slv.vic.gov.au/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=1275188. Details

Online Resources

• 'Marie Corrigan: a mother and her child', in Ten Victorian Women, This reproduces letters between Marie Corrigan and her son William John, who was taken into 'care' in 1879. The original letters are in the collection of Public Record Office Victoria (VPRS 1226 Supplementary Inward Registered Correspondence), Australian Women's Archive Project and Public Record Office Victoria, 2005, http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/fl/flten07.htm. Details
• 'Eliza Taylor: A mother is gaoled and her children left destitute', in Ten Victorian Women, This tells the story of two children, gaoled for vagrancy in 1863. They were later transferred to the 'care' of the new Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools., Australian Women's Archive Project and Public Record Office Victoria, 2005, http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/fl/flten04.htm. Details
• 'Marie Corrigan', in Ten Victorian Women, This is the story of a mother, Marie Corrigan, whose child William John (Willy) was taken from her in 1879 'due to neglect'. Letters from Marie Corrigan to her son, and to his foster parents, were reprinted in the 1884 annual report of the Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools., Australian Women's Archive Project and Public Record Office Victoria, 2005, http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/fl/flten07.htm. Details
• 'Agency VA 1466 Department of Industrial and Reformatory Schools', in Public Record Office Victoria Online Catalogue, 'Description of this agency', Public Record Office Victoria, 2005, http://www.prov.vic.gov.au. Details