Brighton Industrial School (GA3232)

The Brighton Industrial School, also known as the Grace Darling, was a receiving home for children who had been made wards of the State. It was administered by the Destitute Board.

Under the 'Destitute Persons Relief Act 1866', children under 16 who had been charged with being neglected had to be placed in an Industrial School and children convicted of an offence had to be sent to a Reformatory. Children who were housed in the Destitute Asylum, which catered to people of all ages, were moved to the Exhibition Building on North Terrace in late 1866. The reformatories would not be established until late 1869.

In February 1867, the children were moved from the Exhibition Building to the Grace Darling Hotel in Brighton, which was proclaimed an Industrial School in March 1867.

By August 1867, the 'South Australian Weekly Chronicle' declared: 'We believe the history of the Brighton Industrial School - if honestly written - would constitute one of the most disgraceful chapters in the annals of South Australia'.

A Select Committee of the Legislative Council was set up on 31 July 1867 to investigate the Industrial School following outbreaks of disease, staff resignations and the deaths of at least twelve children. Staff testified that the School lacked appropriate clothing and bedding for the children and several domestic staff had left on account of illness. Skin disease (which the doctor could not specifically diagnose) was rife and there were outbreaks of measles and diphtheria, as well as children with longer-standing tuberculosis.

From February - November 1867, sixteen children, aged between 2 and 6, died at the Industrial School from communicable disease and one child died at the Adelaide Hospital, having been transferred from the Industrial School. Fourteen were named in the Select Committee's report in October 1867.

Children were removed from the Industrial School to ease overcrowding - some older girls were sent to the Destitute Home in Flinders Street, run by the Destitute Board; Catholic children were sent to the St Vincent de Paul Orphanage and Anglican children to the Orphan Home, run by the Church of England. About fifty children were sent to Adelaide Hospital after the Select Committee was formed.

In December 1869, boys who had been convicted of a crime were sent to one of the boys' reformatories - Ilfracombe at Burnside or Magill. The Magill Industrial School (see GA3233) opened in 1869 and the remaining children at Brighton were transferred there.

Sources:

Find & Connect - Brighton Industrial School. https://findandconnect.gov.au/ref/sa/biogs/SE00068b.htm. Accessed June 2024

Parliamentary Paper No. 91 of 1867: First Progress Report of the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the management of the Destitute Asylum and Brighton Industrial School, 22 October 1867

SRSA GRG28/11: Daily report book - Industrial School, Brighton and Magill