| Hillston, Stoneville |
| Years of Operation | 1955 – January 1984 |
| Role Of Facility | An “open” reformatory for adolescent boys on a working farm property. Most boys attended a school on the property as well as doing practical work on the farm. While the age group of boys admitted to Hillston was variously described as “adolescent” or from 11 years, in fact younger boys (from 9 years of age) were recorded as resident within the Hillston system – those younger boys generally being placed at Darlington Cottage [see entry]. |
| Sponsoring Agency | Departmental - predessors to the current Department for Child Protection and Family Support / Anglican Diocesan Council (Anglican Church) |
Other facilities in
Signposts that are
related to the
Sponsoring Agency | See the entry “Anglican Church” in the earlier section of Signposts, “Non-Government Agencies and their Subsidiary Institutions” |
| Address(es) | Stoneville Road, Stoneville |
| Aliases | Although situated on the site previously occupied by the Padbury Boys’ Farm School [see entry], the two facilities should not be confused as their roles and resident populations were quite different. |
| Brief History | Hillston occupied the same premises as the Padbury Boys’ Farm School, but it was not Padbury’s successor. The boys from Padbury [see entry] went back to Swan Boys’ Home [see entries in Signposts for Swanleigh and Swan Boys’ Delinquent Home] and a new population of young people were taken into Hillston. More explanation about the changeover period and early years of Hillston is provided in Noisy Mansions The Story of Swanleigh 1868-1971, by that institution’s long-serving Director, A. Roy Peterkin. Enquiries about Noisy Mansions should be directed to Swanleigh (see contact details below).
Boys resident at Hillston would have been committed to the care of the Department for committing offences or for truancy.
By 1977, Hillston was described thus:
“Hillston is a medium-security treatment facility situated on 149 hectares of semi-rural land 41 kilometres from Perth. It has provision for general and remedial schooling, training in mixed farming, trade skills, leisure interests and activities. Single cabins accommodate sixty boys. Boys in privileged or special circumstances can be placed in detached sleeping units or one or two cottages. While the centre’s total capacity is for eighty children more than a further three hundred and fifty boys receive care and supervision under Hillston’s community-based support system. There are also two 10-bed annexes or half-way units located in the suburbs [Darlington Cottage and McDonald House, and also Warramia, Hillston’s group home at Badgingarra – see entries]” (Annual Report of the Department for Community Welfare, June 30th 1977).
In 1979, the Welstat (welfare statistics) report identified Hillston as a “residential child care establishment that is mainly for child offenders, children on remand for alleged offences or uncontrolled children, and that has, as one of its aims, the full-time secure detention of its child.”
By 1982, Warramia Farm was no longer being used by Hillston.
Hillston’s residential program closed in January 1984, and Darlington Cottage and McDonald House subsequently became part of the Community Support Hostel system.
The future plan for Hillston was for it to stay in the Department’s possession for use as an Activities Centre, and the new, purpose-built Kath French Centre was opened on the Hillston site in November 1999.
A more detailed chronology of major events, admissions and discharges is included in Table 16. |
| Records | The first starting point for records must be the Department, who may have admission registers or case notes. |
| Access | While access to records is restricted to protect the privacy of individuals, people are encouraged to enquire. |
| Contact Details | Freedom of Information
Department of Communities
Locked Bag 5000, Fremantle WA 6959
Telephone: (08) 6217 6888
Country free call: 1800 176 888
Email: foi@communities.wa.gov.au
Website: www.communities.wa.gov.au
For information on the changeover period and management by the Anglican Church provided in the history, Noisy Mansions The Story of Swanleigh 1868-1971:
The Director, Swanleigh
58 Yule Avenue, Middle Swan 6056
Telephone: (08) 9374 5600
Facsimile: (08) 9374 5699
Email: admin@swanleigh.wa.edu.au
Web: www.swanleigh.wa.edu.au |
| back |