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New South Wales - Organisation

Gill Memorial Boys' Home (1936 - 1980)

  • Gill Memorial Home for Boys, Goulburn

    Gill Memorial Home for Boys, Goulburn, 3 October 1936, courtesy of State Library of New South Wales.
    Details

From
1936
To
1980
Categories
Children's Home, Home, Receiving Agency, Receiving Home and Salvation Army
Alternative Names
  • The Gill
  • Goulburn Boys' Home

The Gill Memorial Boys' Home was a Salvation Army Boys' Home located at Auburn Street, Goulburn from September 1936. It was opened after the closure of the Salvation Army's Dee Why Boys' Home. It held around 90 boys at a time, aged from three to 18 years. In 1980 the Home was restructured and changed, becoming the Gill Memorial Family Group Home.

Details

Some children at Gill Memorial Boys' Home were there under court orders, some were state wards, some were child migrants, some were placed there 'informally', for example by a parent.

The Gill Memorial Boys' Home was mentioned in a number of submissions to the 2004 Senate Community Affairs Reference Committee Inquiry into Forgotten Australians and Child Migrants. Some former residents recall sexual abuse and most described a harsh routine, where numbers were used instead of names.

One former resident, who described regular bashings and abuse in his submission, also wrote out the words of a song the boys used to sing:

THE BOYS AT THE GILL VERSION OF THE "ROAD TO GUNDAGAI"
There's a gaol on the hill
and they call it the Gill
along the road to Goulburn High.
You can hear the Sallies singing
and hear the stockwhip ringing
beneath the Goulburn sky.
When my mummy and daddy are thinking of me
I'm in the Sallies office copping six, four or three.
There's a gaol on the hill
and they call it the Gill
along the road to Goulburn High.

We used to sing this song on the way to school and after school, anywhere we could, just so long as the officers didn't hear it because we were well aware of the consequences. [Submission 336]

Location

1936 - 1980
Address - Gill Memorial Boys' Home was situated at 47 Eldon Street, corner of Combermere Street, at the junction of Auburn Street, Goulburn. Location: Goulburn

Timeline

 1936 - 1980 Gill Memorial Boys' Home
       1980 - 1995 Gill Memorial Family Group Home

Related Concepts

Related Events

Related Glossary Terms

Related Organisations

Publications

Books

  • Penglase, Joanna, Orphans of the living: growing up in care in twentieth-century Australia, Curtin University Books/Fremantle Press, Fremantle, 2005, 384 pp. Details

Online Resources

Photos

Gill Memorial Home for Boys, Goulburn
Title
Gill Memorial Home for Boys, Goulburn
Type
Image
Date
3 October 1936
Source
State Library of New South Wales

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: 'Submission 248', in Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care - Submissions received by the committee as at 17/3/05, Senate Community Affairs Committee, Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist; 'Submission 286', in Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care - Submissions received by the committee as at 17/3/05, Senate Community Affairs Committee, Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist; Immigration Museum, Stolen childhoods, Museum Victoria, 2011-2012, https://museumsvictoria.com.au/article/stolen-childhoods/; Penglase, Joanna, Orphans of the living: growing up in care in twentieth-century Australia, Curtin University Books/Fremantle Press, Fremantle, 2005, 384 pp; Senate Community Affairs Committee, 'Submission 336', in Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care - Submissions received by the committee as at 17/3/05, Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist; The Salvation Army Australia Eastern Territory, 'Submission 46: EASTERN TERRITORY SOCIAL CENTRES: A list of openings, closings, and function', in Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care - Submissions received by the committee as at 17/3/05, Senate Community Affairs Committee, Commonwealth of Australia, June 2003, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf.

Prepared by: Naomi Parry