Full description
On 14 February 1969 Yawarra Training School for Boys opened on a site at Kurri Kurri which had been purchased for the purpose by the Department of Child Welfare in 1965 (1) "Yawarra" is an Aboriginal word meaning "to take care of". (2)
On 2 May 1969 under section 49 of the Child Welfare Act, 1939 as amended Yawarra Training School for Boys was proclaimed "a school for the reception, detention, maintenance, discipline, education and training of children and young persons committed to such institution". (3)
The new home provided accommodation for 200 boys aged 16-18 in four separate homes each of which housed 44 boys. The complex contained a privilege cottage for boys being prepared for return to the community. (4) The program was aimed at vocational education with boys receiving training in semiskilled and technical trades. Yawarra was the first training school to provide training in radio and television repair and maintenance. (5) The School had its own radio station, 2YA, (6) and exchanged programs with 2DA the radio station at Daruk Boys’ Training School. (7) School education was also available including remedial lessons and boys were prepared for the School Certificate or took technical courses by correspondence. There was also an emphasis on sporting activities. (8)
On 19 October 1979 Yawarra ceased to function as a Training School. It reopened temporarily as a unit for males aged 18 to 21 who had been transferred from the Department of Corrective Services because they were thought to be at risk. This unit only was closed within a year and the site became a Coal Industry College. (9)
Endnotes
1. Brian Boyle, The Child Welfare Schools: recollections of these unique schools and the men and women who taught in them often under considerable difficulty. Unpublished typescript, 1996 (held by State Records Library), p.500.
2. Boyle, op. cit., p.501.
3. NSW Government Gazette, 1969 vol. 2, p.1557.
4. Department of Child Welfare Report for the year ended 30 June, 1969, pp.18-19 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1969-70-71 Vol. 1 p.711.
5. Ibid.
6. Department of Child Welfare Report for the year ended 30 June 1970, pp.30-31 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1969-70-71 Vol.1 p.779.
7. Boyle, op. cit., p.501.
8. Department of Child Welfare Report for the year ended 30 June, 1969, op. cit.
9. Boyle, op. cit., p. 501.
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