Heidelberg Boys' Home

The Heidelberg Boys’ Home was established by the Salvation Army in 1893.  It closed in 1895.

The Heidelberg Boys’ Home was established by the Salvation Army in 1893. It was situated on a small property in Heidelberg. It was proclaimed a reformatory under the Juvenile Offenders Act 1887 and was for Protestant boys.

In January 1893 the first 8 boys were transferred to Heidelberg from the government-run Ballarat Reformatory, which closed in April 1893.

The department’s annual report for 1893 described the institution as a “small farm of first-class land, under full cultivation and very finely situated, connected by telephone with Melbourne and the nearest police station. Until this was done, abscondings were frequent, probably from its proximity to the city, it being in full view”. It stated that the manager Captain Bray and his wife and several other Salvation Army officers were “constantly with the lads, both at work and play”.

In 1893, the Home reported to the department that:

During the year that has gone we have gained a good deal of experience in connexion with the work amongst Reformatory boys, and we now feel that we have our hands upon things fairly well. The boys are kept at work for a specified time each day in various duties about the farm, and a portion of each day is also set apart for their education. A special officer attends to this, giving the lads instruction, and thus endeavoring to fit them for positions of usefulness in days to come.

The institution at Heidelberg was short-lived. In 1897, the Salvation Army went on to establish much larger reformatory institution in Pakenham, the Bayswater Boys’ Homes.