South Australia gives Destitute Board in 1866 running of industrial schools, reformatories and apprenticeships

Part of Destitute Asylum building in Adelaide city off North Terrace. and near the later Kintore Avenue. Children were moved out of the asylum, originally part of the police barracks until 1851, when the Destitute Board was given powers in 1866 to run industrial and reformatory schools and to place children out as apprentices.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia

South Australia’s Destitute Persons Relief Act 1866-67 created the Destitute Board that, among other powers, took responsibility for “orphaned”, “neglected” and “convicted” children.

The Act allowed for industrial and reformatory schools and for the board to place children out as apprentices. As a result of the Act, children were moved out of the Destitute Asylum in Adelaide city and into temporary institutions and later the Magill Industrial School.

Part 1 of the Destitute Persons Relief Act’s made it the relatives’ duty to care for destitute family members. Husbands or fathers were expected to maintain deserted wives and legitimate or illegitimate children. Women also were expected to contribute to supporting illegitimate children.

Part 2 set up the Destitute Board, its duties and powers. The board administered any funds allocated to care for the destitute. It appointed superintendents and controlled asylums and other institutions taking in destitute people, including schools for destitute and “neglected” children.

Part 3 gave the government the power to start industrial and reformatory schools for “neglected” and “convicted” children. Approved schools set up privately for these children, such as by religious organisations, also were regarded as reformatories or industrial schools. Under the Act, “child” referred to boys and girls under 16 and “inmate” was used for any child detained in a school or reformatory. The 1866 Act was significantly the first legislation to introduce and define “neglected child”  –  abandoned children, including those found begging, “wandering about”, sleeping outdoors or residing in a brothel. Parents could ask that a child they were “unable to control” be placed in an industrial school but had to maintain the child in the school.

Under the 1866 legislation, a child could be “arrested” and brought before two justices in court on the charge of being “a neglected child”. The Act allowed a child to be sentenced to the industrial school “for not less than six months, nor more than seven years”. No child over 16 was to remain in the school. Children charged and convicted of criminal offences were sent to a reformatory where they could be detained for between one and seven years, until 16. Children sentenced to the reformatory to be transferred to the industrial school for good conduct. The government could pay subsidies for children maintained in private institutions where children in “state” care could also be transferred. These homes were inspected by the board.

The 1866 Act repealed Act 8 of 1848 Children's Apprenticeship Act and made the Destitute Board, rather than the children's apprenticeship board, responsible for apprenticing children. Part 3 of the Act also gave the Destitute Board the power to place out children from industrial schools or reformatories with individuals willing to take in and care for them. The board paid a subsidy to assist with the cost of caring for, clothing, and educating children placed out in this way until they reached 16.

The Act gave the board the power to apprentice “neglected children”' for up to seven years to any “such useful calling or occupation”. Children were generally sent out as domestic servants or farm hands. Employers provided food, lodging and clothing in return for their work. Sometimes, apprenticed children were paid a wage. Complaints by a child about maltreatment could result in the employer being fined £10. Children who misbehaved were committed to the “nearest gaol or house of correction, there to be kept in confinement on bread and water for any time not exceeding fourteen days.”

Children who absconded from an industrial school or reformatory were also punished, including “private whipping'” for boys. The Act also included penalties for people who helped children to abscond, harboured absconders or communicated with any child detained in an institution.