Historical Juvenile Detention Centre and Youth Detention Centre Abuse

Queensland

Brisbane Youth Detention Centre

• The Brisbane Youth Detention Centre is in Wacol in outer Brisbane

• Opened in 2001, it houses up to 162 children aged between 10 and 18

• The catchment for Brisbane Youth Detention Centre extends from south of Rockhampton out to the Northern Territory border

Cleveland Youth Detention Centre

• Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville houses up to 112 young people from a catchment stretching from Rockhampton to Townsville and west to the Northern Territory border

• Shine Lawyers’ Abuse Law team are representing several young detainees who endured physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre.

Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Detention Centre

• The Wilson Youth Hospital opened as a state-run facility in Brisbane in 1961 for: 

  • Emotionally disturbed children 

  • Youth who had broken the law 

  • Homeless children and orphans 

• As the Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Centre, it accommodated many young people following the closure of Westbrook Youth Detention Centre in 1994 

• The Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Detention Centre closed in 2001 following recommendations from the 1999 Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions. By this time, both boys and girls aged under 18 had been housed at the facility 

• The Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Detention Centre, which was located on Tenth Avenue in Windsor has since been demolished 

Westbrook Farm Home

• Established in 1919, Westbrook Farm Home for Boys (outside Toowoomba) was renamed Westbrook Training Centre in 1966 

• Run by the Queensland government, Westbrook Farm Home housed indigenous and non-indigenous boys aged under 18 who had entered the youth justice system 

• Government inquiries into allegations of abuse at Westbrook Farm Home were held in 1961 and 1971. The 1971 inquiry became known as the Peel Inquiry, and was discussed in the 1999 Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions (the Forde Inquiry)  

• Under its final name of Westbrook Youth Detention Centre, the facility closed in 1994

New South Wales

Daruk Training Centre

• Daruk Training Centre in Windsor (north-west of Sydney) was established as Daruk Boys’ Home in 1960. It was also known as Daruk Training School 

• Run by the New South Wales government as a training school for juvenile offenders, it closed in 1985 

• Many vulnerable teenage boys experienced alleged daily significant punishment abuse and sexual abuse while at Daruk Boys’ Home 

Mt Penang Juvenile Detention Centre

• Mt Penang Juvenile Detention Centre (on the NSW Central Coast) was a state-run facility that closed in 1999. It was also known as Mt Penang Training School for Boys 

• Multiple allegations of sexual and physical abuse have been made by former residents of Mt Penang Juvenile Detention Centre 

• Its function as a youth detention centre has been taken over by Kariong Juvenile Correction Centre 

• Laurence ‘Laurie’ Maher is a former superintendent of Mt Penang Training School who has been charged with historical child sexual abuse offences (which allegedly occurred between 1977 and 1988) 

Tasmania

Ashley Youth Detention Centre

• Previously called Ashley Home for Boys, the Ashley Youth Detention Centre outside Deloraine is Tasmania’s only youth detention centre outside Deloraine is Tasmania’s only youth detention centre

• Hundreds of serious allegations of systemic child abuse at Ashley Youth Detention Centre helped trigger the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings

• In November 2024, the Tasmanian Supreme Court approved a class action settlement for former residents of Ashley Youth Detention Centre 

South Australia

Magill Training Centre

• Magill Training Centre was established in Woodforde, South Australia in 1869 as Magill Industrial School. It initially housed neglected, destitute or orphaned children 

• Magill Training Centre has also been known as McNally Training Centre and South Australian Youth Training Centre 

• Magill Training Centre closed in 2012 following the Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry (the Mulligan Inquiry). Its 2008 report detailed the decades-long systemic failures that allowed abuse and neglect of children in state care, including at Magill Training Centre 

Northern Territory

Don Dale Youth Detention Centre

• The Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin houses male and female young people from the Northern Territory who are on remand or have been sentenced to detention 

• Run by the Northern Territory government since 1991, abuse at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre was a subject of the 2016 Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory