Horton Village, in Toowoomba, operated as a children’s home from 1976 to 1985. It was run by the Salvation Army. Previously, it was known as Horton House. From 1985 onwards Horton Village operated as a disability institution. In 2014 Horton Village functioned as the Salvation Army’s disability support service in Toowoomba.
The Horton Village complex consisted of Horton House, Alford House, Hocking House and Ray Powell Cottage. Despite the reorganisation of the institution into cottage homes, concerns were expressed in the late 1970s that it was still operating as an ‘old-style institution’, and the cottages were not functioning independently.
According to the 1999 report of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions, departmental officials criticised the ‘isolated regime’ at Horton Village in 1978 and its negative effects of children who lived there.
Due to the emerging trend towards allowing children to stay with their families where possible, to foster or house children in smaller units, the number of children requiring care at Horton Village had dropped by the 1980s.
By 1983 only eight children, funded by the Department of Children’s Services, were accommodated in one cottage at Horton Village.
In the mid-1980s, the complex was re-organised to accommodate intellectually disabled adults. By 1985 children were no longer cared for at Horton Village.
From
1976
To
1985
1976 - 1985
Horton Village was situated at 2 Curtis Street, Toowoomba, Queensland (Building Still standing)
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