{"id":9900,"date":"2021-11-29T12:11:25","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T01:11:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kelsolawyers.com\/au\/?post_type=institutions&p=9900"},"modified":"2025-05-07T16:01:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T06:01:56","slug":"mittagong-training-school-for-boys","status":"publish","type":"institutions","link":"https:\/\/kelsolawyers.com\/au\/institutions\/mittagong-training-school-for-boys\/","title":{"rendered":"Offending Institution: Mittagong Training School For Boys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mittagong Training School was no place for children.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From 1906 until the home\u2019s closure in 1976, NSW state wards<\/a> were sent to Mittagong for many reasons. Some were caught stealing or breaking and entering. Others were neglected, or their parents could no longer afford to care for them. <\/span>Some were just deemed \u201cuncontrollable\u201d and in need of rehabilitation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No matter their so-called \u201ccrime\u201d, the boys were subjected to long hours of manual labour, prison-like conditions, a lack of education and a disturbing range of abuse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The housemasters and workers there did not care for the boys. <\/span>There was no love within those walls.<\/span><\/p>\n

Previously, we have referenced Mittagong Training School for Boys as one of the <\/span>nine worst children\u2019s homes in New South Wales<\/span><\/a>. Here, we share the horrific stories of the boys \u2014 now men \u2014 who were forced into Mittagong in their youth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Life inside Mittagong Training School For Boys\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Before the children’s home<\/a> became Mittagong Training School for Boys, it was called Mittagong Farm Home for Boys; however, it served the same purpose for several decades. The home was established in 1906 and was proclaimed an industrial school and probationary training home for boys aged eight to seventeen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Boys classified as \u201cdelinquent\u201d were sent to Mittagong from the Children\u2019s Courts after being convicted for <\/span>\u201coffences\u201d like truanting, wandering, being neglected, breaching probation, stealing, breaking and entering, or being generally \u201cuncontrollable\u201d<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The home was closely linked to the Mittagong Cottage Homes for \u201cdelicate and invalid\u201d state wards. Over the years, several more cottages were built to <\/span>\u201csafeguard the religion of the boys committed\u201d<\/span><\/a>, whereby the boys were separated based on religion and age, not the level of their crimes or illnesses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1908, the President of the State Children’s Relief Board wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not of crime and the criminal that I think when I see these juvenile delinquents, but of buoyant, healthy nature running wild and needing training\u2014seedlings in the garden of humanity which must not be destroyed but, rather, carefully nurtured and judiciously trained for the good that is in them. And so we place them on the soil.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The boys were put to work on the farm, the dairy, and the orchard, but they also allegedly received training in boot-making, tailoring, and carpentry. In the public eye, Mittagong must have seemed like a wonderful place for boys to be rehabilitated and receive a hands-on education or trade \u2014 especially when the President of the State Children\u2019s Relief Board <\/span>brushed aside allegations of \u201cprison conditions\u201d<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBarrack like buildings have been superseded by cottages, bright with their own gardens and replete with every comfort suggesting \u2018home\u2019,\u201d he told the Sydney Morning Herald.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThe officials approach the home idea altogether, in that a man and wife (“mother” and “father”) are in charge of each cottage. No uniforms are worn by officials or children, no bolts bars, or locks are visible or allowed, and the children are given the greatest amount of liberty compatible with proper order and discipline.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThey go to the public school from their respective homes to their various avocations at the farm, workshops, etc\u2026 Where, then, is the semblance even of prison discipline?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, this idealised depiction of Mittagong was far from the truth. In 1934, a major inquiry into the Child Welfare Departments found <\/span>widespread abuse in government-run institutions<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the commission, the Superintendent of the Mittagong Farm Home admitted that <\/span>corporal punishment was in force at the institution<\/span><\/a> and that it had previously gone unrecorded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He told the commission that \u201c’<\/span>he had never known a boy to resist corporal punishment which did not exceed six cuts on the buttocks<\/span><\/a>\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The commission handed down several recommendations including:<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n