New South Wales, Australia, Industrial School Registers, 1867-1925

Following passage of the Destitute Children Act of 1866 (also known as the Industrial Schools Act), vagrant and impoverished children in New South Wales could be sent to industrial schools, which taught work skills and provided guidance. The schools became home to a mix of orphans, neglected children, and juvenile delinquents under the age of eighteen. Admission could be by court order, necessity, or at the parents’ request.

This collection includes records from three industrial schools for girls. Biloela Reformatory and Industrial School operated on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbor between 1871 and 1880. Following its closure, a school was established at Shaftesbury at Watson's Bay in Sydney in 1880 and remained open until 1904. The third was located in the northwest Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Industrial School for Girls opened there in 1887 and operated until 1974.

The Records In these collections you'll find rosters and admission, apprenticeship, and discharge records. Admission records typically included the name of the child, date of committal, offense, name of a parent or guardian, "character of parents and home surroundings," maintenance orders, and remarks.

Some girls were apprenticed out, and these records can give the name of the girl, the person to whom she was apprenticed, age, wages and terms of the apprenticeship, and remarks. Remarks typically noted behavior, comments from the employer, notes on termination of the apprenticeship, and in many cases reports of follow-up visits once the girl was released to family.

Discharges may include age at admission, dates of admission and discharge, and remarks.