Gosford Farm Home was formally opened in 1913, but had begun in November 1911, when a party of boys from Sobraon arrived on Penang Mountain, under the leadership of Assistant Superintendent Herbert Wood.
The Minister for Public Instruction, G.S. Beeby, and a committee including Sir Charles Mackellar of the State Children's Relief Board and Frederick Stayner, of Brush Farm Reformatory, selected a 700 acre site on Penang Mountain, near Kariong, for the new home. The site was considered healthy, with beautiful natural surroundings, good water and sufficient land for cultivation.
By 1912 most of the boys from Brush Farm had been moved to the site and work began in earnest. The boys slept in bell tents, in all weathers, while they cleared forest and built dormitories, staff quarters and mess rooms. This was hard, uncomfortable work, but was seen as essential to the reform and development of the boys.
Life for boys at Gosford Farm Home consisted of farm work, with some rudimentary training in skills like boot making. Prayer, marching and drills were all part of the routine.
The site of Gosford Farm Home for Boys is, IN 2014, part of Mt Penang Parklands.
Last updated:
26 July 2023
Cite this: http://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/nsw/NE01148
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License