Proponents
Reformatories and Probation Homes
The South Australian Government recruited farm apprentices from three reformatories and probation homes:
- the Kibble Farm School (17);
- Redhill Farm School (4); and
- Padcroft Boys' Home (5).
As leaders in their field, all three institutions maintained an interest in their charges once they left their care and therefore it is not surprising that they helped the boys to secure a place in South Australia's farm apprenticeship scheme.
Reformatories
In the early 20th century, British boys could be sent to reform schools if they were convicted of criminal misdemeanours between the ages of 12 and 16, and they could be detained there up to the age of 19. The ex-reformatory pupils who participated in the farm apprenticeship scheme had either completed their terms or were released 'on licence' as their term was about to expire.
The admission records at the Kibble and Redhill Farm Schools indicate that most of the boys' crimes were mild by today's standards. As their name implies, reformatory schools were intended to reform boys through education rather than punishment. Kibble and Redhill provided their pupils with training in agriculture, which obviously appealed to the South Australian Government.
A promotional brochure for Redhill (Rescued, Reformed, Restored: Impressions of a Visitor to the Farm School, Redhill, 1910) gives a idea of the progressive approach to juvenile delinquency adopted by farm schools:
We were seated in the Warden's study. I had just concluded a morning's ramble over the Estate ... and my mind and head were full.
A Pointed Question
"Do you really mean to tell me seriously that these 300 boys you have here are young criminals?" I could not help asking the question in this positive way, for everything I had seen indicated that the thing was impossible, and yet somewhere at the back of my mind there was that horrid word "Reformatory".
A Significant Answer
"There is not a doubt about it, or they would not be here", came the reply. "But mind you," the Warden added, "we never mention the fact here, and we hardly ever think of them in that light. To us, who have the supervision of this work, they are simply boys who need to be trained that they may grow up honest, upright, Christian citizens. We forget their past and we help them forget it too. We remember only their future, and we impress upon them the dignity and nobility of manhood".
Please consult my thesis for detailed analysis of the reformatory schools' involvement in the farm apprenticeship scheme.
Probation Homes
Padcroft was of a different nature to Kibble and Redhill, as explained here.