The Industrial and Reformatory School for Girls, Toowoomba, run by the government, was established on 1 April 1881. It was previously the Toowoomba jail. The superintendent and matron of the jail were appointed superintendent and matron of the school under the Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act of 1865. Under the Act, children under the age of fifteen who were unmanageable or incorrigible, or with convictions, were sent to reformatories while those from unwholesome environments were sent to industrial schools to be trained for employment. The School was re-named The Industrial School for Girls, Toowoomba, in around 1890.
1881 - c. 1890 Industrial and Reformatory School for Girls, Toowoomba
c. 1890 - 1903 Industrial School for Girls, Toowoomba
Sources used to compile this entry: 'Official Notifications', Brisbane Courier, 26 June 1880, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article902980; Centenary of care for children 1879-1979, 1979, http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/36784/20030730-0000/www.families.qld.gov.au/department/centenary_of_care/index.html.
Prepared by: Lee Butterworth
Created: 13 January 2013, Last modified: 18 June 2014
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/qld/biogs/QE00519b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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