South Australia - Social Matters

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Miscellany

Miscellany

Children and Youths

Also see Crime and Adelaide - Larrikinism. and Adelaide - Destitution

Illegitimate Children and Baby-Farming

(Taken from Geoffrey H. Manning's A Colonial Experience)

Register

Introduction

Moral indignation is the mother of most of the cruelty in the world and there is no bigger butt for this cruelty than the unmarried mother and her child.

The question of standard has always worried moralists. The Anglo-Saxon races have tended to estimate the moral standard of any given people comparatively to the norm of the Christian dispensation.

The percentage of illegitimate births does not estimate the standard of morality of a nation, because the unborn (the potential lives sacrificed annually to the Moloch of public opinion) exclude all comparisons of a moral basis. Reasonable and humane treatment of illegitimate children tends very largely to diminish the deadly and appallingly increasing crime of abortion.

Every thoughtful person knows full well that the sexual indiscretions in every community are, in all but a few instances, never brought to light. Because of our interpretation of what immorality means, we have made the fact of discovery through maternity a branding mark. In thinking of the unmarried mother we are prone to forget the woman who, although a party to promiscuous sexual relations, is yet shrewd enough to prevent conception or, if it does take place, commits an abortion.

This latter type of woman, moreover, is not generally a product of low-grade homes, but society itself must take its share of responsibility in this deadly sin against nature - incomparably greater than one against convention only - so long as we permit our laws to remain as at present.

There are few darker blots upon Christianity than the way in which illegitimate children have been sacrificed in the name of religion and morality. However strict may be the moral code, which it is desired to enforce, there can be neither sense, nor justice, nor policy, in punishing the wholly innocent child.

The cruel doctrine that an illegitimate child is fillius nullius - a doctrine invented by men to shield themselves from the consequence of their misdeeds - is still the law of the land. The obvious natural law that every child born into the world has a right to fatherhood, as well as to motherhood, has not yet been recognised. The disproportion between the responsibility placed upon the man and on the woman is the more outrageous, as it is due to legislation in which women have had no share. The time has come to remove the injustice of visiting on the illegitimate child the disapproval of society.

Illegitimacy in South Australia

The framers of our laws have always exercised a false delicacy in dealing with this subject and especially with the injury done by the seducer. The father, whose daughter has been betrayed, is considered merely to have been robbed of the girl's services for so many weeks or months, as the case may be. Although, like Peggoty in David Copperfield, he may have the happiness of his life shattered by the act of the miscreant, he is held to have lost nothing but his daughter's assistance in household work.

The girl who has been seduced under promise of marriage is supposed to have simply lost so much of her time - nothing more than that. It is high time that such puerile fictions were done away with. Not so long ago the Reverend J.C. Kirby drew attention to the manner in which girls who had fallen were held up to public shame, while the well-to-do men who had ruined them were carefully shielded from reproach.

There are two reforms which would tend to do away with this standing disgrace of the community. Any unmarried man who leads a girl astray should not merely be liable to support her child as at present, but should be held to have given her a promise of marriage and to be liable to damages if he does not fulfil it. At present it is only those who have a written, or well-attested promise, who are able to bring pressure to bear upon those who have wronged them.

The consequences of a married man tampering with a woman's virtue ought by some means to be rendered equally heavy and, at all events, it should be open to an injured wife to obtain a divorce for the adultery of her husband, even if unaccompanied with cruelty.

Sometimes it happens, though perhaps not very often, that children are born even to women living by prostitution, and nothing can be more hapless than their condition. It is said, indeed, that in such cases the birth of a child often calls out the better qualities of the woman, which has been overlaid by a long course of dissipation; but what can be expected of the growth of character in the children who are nursed amid the associations of vice?

And there are the other more common cases of girls led astray, who are so circumstanced that in the very struggle for existence they are disabled from discharging any of the offices of motherhood. In the case of those received into the Destitute Asylum there is a humane regulation by which mother and child are retained for six months in the institution, in order that the latter may, at all events during that time, be nursed by its own mother. But there the protection of society over the infant life ceases.

The mother has to go to earn her living, perhaps to service, or to some similar calling, and her child is an obstacle in the way. She has to transfer it to the care of some one who will undertake the charge for a weekly payment, but in the state to which she is reduced there is little opportunity of selection. She cannot afford to delay and must secure such a caretaker as she can.

All the evils of baby-farming arise out of such circumstances, unfortunately of too frequent recurrence. The same difficulty presents itself in England and the arguments of Mrs Jeune are worthy of consideration; she says:

If the woman who has it is kind and will wait, some small sum can be paid in time, but if she presses for payment and is, as is often the case, a very poor woman, and has taken the child to eke out her own living, she cannot afford to wait. The wretched mother is bound to get the money somehow and generally turns for help to some man, who probably insists on his own terms in repayment, and then she drifts away again, another outcast.

If this is a true picture, it will be seen that the failure of society to provide suitable protection for illegitimate children involves a double evil. It tends to drag down the woman who, perhaps, was making an honest attempt to recover her character, and thus calls for attention of those especially who insist that prevention is better than cure. It also leaves the child uncared for, in so far as society itself is concerned.

No provision has been made with a view to the terrible evils surrounding every young unprotected life. Mrs Jeune may well say:

And what becomes of the baby? It has no home - miserable though the homes of many poor children are - and no home ties or associations. It is a little waif on the river of life and it floats down and is lost in the ocean of sin which engulfs so many.

Mrs Jeune was speaking of London and London life, but what better prospect is there for such a child amongst ourselves, when the mother is weak or shiftless, especially if she has yielded a second time to the temptation which has ruined her life? The cases are rare in which even she can so far overcome the shame of the position, she can do the part of a mother then or later, and if the child grows up with a good character, it is through chance agencies which cannot be foreseen.

The far greater probability is if the child be a boy that he may grow up to be a pest to society; or if a girl, that, with so little to help her, she may tread with sad facility the downward road on which so many have hopelessly fallen. The position of such a child of shame is infinitely worse than that of ordinary orphanhood, and specially in this, that such children have no legal and hardly any moral claim on a single human to stand in loco parentis.

Some means must be found of remedying this defect in our social arrangements. Mrs Jeune urges that illegitimate children born in workhouses should be brought up there, the mother being made to pay towards their support, but this would only partially meet the evil. There are many such children and it is in reference to those others that the dangers of baby-farming are the greatest.

It will surely be admitted to be a necessity that some institutions should be provided to take care of such children until they are old enough to be apprenticed. If we have orphanages, why not homes for those others who are worse than orphans? If they are not to grow up constituting a new danger to society, a thoughtful benevolence should provide for them the guardianship and the moral training, which have been denied them by the sad circumstances of their birth.

It seems hard to suggest another burden in addition to those imposed on benevolence by our existing charitable institutions, but the burden is one which at this moment rests on society and cannot be ignored. It will not do merely to look and heave a sigh, and then pass by on the other side. What is wanted is to provide, not large institutions like our reformatories, but smaller homes, in which the idea of family life may be preserved or at least imitated.

This can only be done by groups of private persons, animated by a humane interest in the highest welfare of these children and with the inventiveness of real benevolence, creating for them the home life from which they have been excluded.

If the advocates of social purity are in earnest, here is a work lying before them to which they should address themselves without loss of time. No doubt it will be objected that to make a path of life more easy to those who have yielded to immoral solicitation is a doubtful measure in the interests of morality.

Whatever danger there may be in visiting the offence on women too leniently, it is not to be set against the much greater danger of allowing an illegitimate population to grow up in the midst of us, with absolutely no guardianship either on the part of the State or on the part of any voluntary association.

Of late, many ardent speeches have been made in defence of social purity, but these will not move greatly the public mind unless they are supported and illustrated by energetic action in some practical direction such as I have indicated.

Baby Farming in South Australia

The Irish Harp

For many years the horrible system known as baby-farming was denounced in parliament and the press and justly reprobated by persons whose attention had been drawn to the subject. In the hills, which nearly surround our city, there was more than one neat little cottage which, from its situation and surroundings, the passing traveller would suppose to be the abode of innocence and domestic happiness, but which in reality was a veritable Golgotha - a den where many a helpless baby was made to suffer a torturing and lingering death.

Into these retreats children were taken by their unnatural mothers, ostensibly to be nursed, but in reality to be made away with by starvation or slow poisoning. That this horrible trade of baby-farming should have been carried on with impunity is not creditable to us as a civilised community. The total suppression of this species of trafficking in human life might not, perhaps, be possible, but I think if a little more vigilance had been employed in the detection and a little more severity in the punishment, it might have been much diminished.

Of the many cases of infanticide which came before our Coroners' Courts there were very few in which a jury could be found willing to return a verdict of murder, however clearly the evidence might have pointed in that direction; and when such a verdict was returned it rarely happened that a penalty proportionate to the crime was inflicted. If a man shoots another on the high road, the chances are that he will be hanged, but if a woman takes the life of a helpless infant confided to her care, she too often escapes with the mild punishment of six month's imprisonment; yet the latter crime is by many degrees morally greater, because it is more cowardly and deliberate.

I do not refer so much to the crime of the erring mother who, perhaps, in a moment of frenzy, stung by remorse and maddened by pain, takes the life of her infant, as those monsters in human shape, the baby-farmers, who, impelled by no other motive than avarice, calmly and deliberately take charge of helpless innocents, with the full purpose and intention of slowly murdering them.

They take the helpless infants, they hear there piteous cries and watch them pining away - and for what? - a little sordid pelf. What degree of brutal heartlessness can exceed this? Can we conceive of any punishment too severe for such monsters in human shape? In my opinion nothing has ever appeared in the columns of any newspaper better calculated to serve the interests of humanity and morality than the remarks of 'Geoffrey Crabthorn' on baby-farming in the Register on 15 April 1873:

In your self-sufficient complacency you shut your eyes to that festering plague spot in the body-politic out of which the evils of baby-farming grow, and wrathfully revile the unmannerly ruffian who ventures to hint at its existence or to obtrude a subject so unsavoury betwixt the wind and your nobility. I grant your daintiness is not without excuse.

As a domestic man you want to cover up the cess-pits of humanity and keep them from the knowledge of your family. But you too often make this pardonable desire a mere cloak for your own indolence, a pretext and an apology for that scornful indifference of yours which tenfold aggravates the mischief you should be painfully striving to eliminate.

It is not in my power, I know, to make you do your duty in this matter. To do that would be to revolutionise society. But I claim my right to speak at last on the collateral subject which that Port Augusta inquest suggests. Not indeed that it discloses any exceptional horrors! Nor that it is unprecedented, or even a rare thing for an infant, fresh from the hands of its Creator, 'a bright new-comer from the world unknown, with still the bloom of its first home upon it', to be ruthlessly deprived of nature's nourishment, and left in alien hands to pine and suffer, and at last to die!

You know as well as I, my Public, that this is an everyday occurrence, which nobody ever dreams of regarding with anything of horror and dismay. And therein lies the depth of its significance. For who is responsible for this wanton rejection of one of God Almighty's most precious gifts? Who has to answer for this heedless profanation of the sacredness of human life?

Is it the unhappy mother, who, hoping against hope, is too often driven by sheer necessity to abandon her foremost duty as the only alternative against starvation? Or is it society who refuses her the means of earning a pittance, however hard, while her babe is still clinging to her breast, who tacitly gives her to understand that her only chance of winning back a position of 'respectability' is to get rid of such an objectionable encumbrance and who, when its ruthless scorn on the one hand and its indirect encouragement on the other, have led to the destruction of a life, complacently folds its hands in gratulation over so happy a release, and impiously commends the decrees to beneficent Providence that 'orders all things for the best?'

No doubt it is for the best in individual cases. But why? Because the harsh judgement of Society offers so cruel an alternative. Because it decrees that in a woman to be an unpardonable crime, not to be expiated for twenty years of pure and Christian living, which in a man is but a venial offence, forgotten in a week.

And lastly because cowardly men, to cloak their own past evil doings, encourage and intensify the shriek of shuddering detestation which immaculate virtue too often raises as the spectacle of a weak and erring sister. As I said before, to remedy these things we must revolutionise society. But in the meantime why should we not try to save the lives of these poor little ones instead of offering them up, as we do, a sacrifice to the Moloch of propriety? How many such lives do you suppose we thus destroy every year in this under-populated country?

If I were the Registrar of Deaths I would keep a rigid record of every one of them and in place of slurring them over as at present, I would proclaim the total from the housetop - or at least from the Government Gazette, which would be nearly as efficacious.

It is not my intention to discuss, at length, individual horrors of baby-farming in South Australia over the past three decades, but will confine myself to one case which occurred in George Street, Norwood. In 1881, Honora Dunn, alias Miller, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour for causing the death of a child placed under her charge.

Her foul deed was suggestive of very unpleasant reflections, not simply because of the peculiar atrocity of slowly killing a helpless infant, but on account of the strong suspicion raised by the evidence that the inhuman treatment of children, inflicted with a view to bringing about their early death was, for some time past, this woman's regular employment.

She was accustomed, it would appear, to receive illegitimate children - those unfortunate waifs whom no one cares to own and whom even the law itself regarded as beings having no right to existence - to feed them with food calculated to bring on diarrhoea and, when the poor little sufferers cried, to beat them most unmercifully, the object presumably being to hasten death.

Perhaps this brutal baby farmer might have carried on this trade undetected had it not so happened that in connection with the treatment of one unfortunate child, circumstances arose somewhat differing from those usually attached to the inmates of her fatal nursery. The deceased was a boy of ten or eleven months old, whom his mother had entrusted to the keeping of the woman Dunn, agreeing to pay the unusually high charge of nine shillings per week for his maintenance, in consideration of his receiving more attention than other children under her charge.

The mother, being really solicitous of the health of here child, stipulated that he should be fed with milk and nourishing food. But it was evidently not the object of such an establishment, as that which Mrs Dunn kept, to make adequate provision for the health and comfort of the inmates.

The customary course of treatment, unwholesome feeding and incessant slapping, seemed in this case to undermine the child's health, for when the mother called to see him after the lapse of a week from her previous visit, he was suffering severely from diarrhoea and already was emaciated. His cheeks bore the marks of cruel blows inflicted upon him by a heavy hand.

He had congestion of the lungs - in fact, within the short space of seven days the child had been brought almost to the point of death. The mother then made arrangements for her child to be admitted to a hospital, where he died about an hour after his arrival.

Upon enquiries being instituted, witnesses deposed that screams frequently emanated from Mrs Dunn's house and that inhumane woman was seen upon one occasion severely smacking the baby because, as she explained, it had knocked over some milk. Evidence was produced which showed that the accused had lain herself out as a veritable baby-farmer and admitted that she had housed six or seven girls in the course of a year.

One woman who had used Mrs Dunn's as a lying-in home alleged that an infant, five weeks old, died from improper treatment while the witness was in the house; that the children were beaten about the face and head until they trembled and that the prisoner used to put them, while half-dressed, into a tub of cold water, beating them at the same time because they had dirtied there clothes.

From this dastardly crime it became evident that no private individuals should be allowed, as a regular business, to take charge of infant children without the slightest control or supervision being exercised over them by authorities. It was clear that the Destitute Asylum could not be expected to meet the difficulty, although it was pleasing to see that it did something, by an expansion of its regulations, to lighten the sorrows of unfortunate mothers and to lessen our alarming infant immortality.

The establishment of the House of Mercy at Walkerville helped to stifle this obnoxious 'trade' but, unfortunately, the rules of the that home provided asylum only to women who could be classified as 'unfortunate'; that is, having made one false step, but had not given themselves up to a life of crime - one regulation provided that 'in all ordinary circumstances the applicant shall not have been a mother previously.'

Late in 1881, with a view of checking this evil, stringent provisions were introduced into the Destitute Persons Act and clause 100 empowered the Board to grant licences to fit and proper persons, on payment of a fee, to act as wet-nurses or foster mothers, for either legitimate or illegitimate children in any establishment under the control of the board.

However, in spite of these controls the practice continued and, in 1882, Paulina Ruger was charged with illegally and without a licence taking care of three illegitimate children. She had applied for a licence which was refused and, upon a detective visiting her home, three illegitimate children were found there; one was crying on a sofa, another was asleep on a bundle of rags in the middle of the floor and the atmosphere in the house was 'very close', an expression somewhat vague, but opposed to ideas of ozone and certainly not suggestive of attar of roses.

In a subsequent court case the press had this to say about the decision handed down by the magistrate:

It is difficult to see how the law against baby-farming is to be enforced; a baby-farm may, perhaps, be suppressed when the keeper is convicted of manslaughter, but in all cases where the parents call now and then to see their offspring the baby-farmer will be held not to have children under her absolute charge, so she can carry on her trade with impunity, in defiance of an Act of Parliament.

In the question of licensed foster-mothers the South Australian parliament took an unfortunate step when, in 1895, it introduced the words 'for gain or reward' into the previously-existing law. The consequence was that an unscrupulous woman, wishing to avoid the necessity of holding a licence, had only to declare that she has adopted her charge without payment.

Indeed, even today the question must be asked - 'Given an inconvenient infant, a mother driven by shame or want to recklessness and an unscrupulous third person anxious to earn money and not particular as to means, what is likely to be the result? The answer is, I am afraid, that despite the 'modern' Act governing the situation, isolated cases of inhumane treatment of foster children still occur today from the actions of a few human vampires.

Died from Starvation

There's a wee pinched face in a dirty cot,
Two eyes sunk deep in their purple rims,
Two tiny lips that are parched and hot,
And oh! such pitiful shrunken limbs!
A fist that clutches the yielding air,
The tube of an empty feeding-boat,
And a baby that's starving slowly there!

There's a hireling woman, unmoved and calm,
Who looks coldly on at the infant strife,
There's the clink of coin in a greedy palm,
And the shameful price of a human life!
There's a hand so hard that it fain would keep
From the dying infant its nurture mild -
Oh God! that a woman should sink so deep
As to grudge the food of a starving child!

There's a mother that lives many leagues away!
Can it be that her conscience lets her rest,
While the babe that but now on her bosom lay,
Is cruelly spurned from her selfish breast?
Though the streets may roar with their ceaseless din,
The noise of the town will surely fail
To stifle the voice of her crying sin,
Or silence a pitiful baby's wail.

Ah me! There are plenty of childless homes,
And gentle women who ne'er have learned
The bliss with a baby face that comes,
Whose secret hearts for such joys have yearned,
While mothers there be to whom such cares
Come more in the guise of a hateful curse,
Who, with hearts choked up with the world's foul tares,
Abandon their babes to a hireling nurse.

My brothers, alas! Is our land so full
That a poor child can find no place?
Is our world too dark and our sky too dull
For the light of an innocent baby face?
Shall the blessings which God in his mercy showers
By a heartless world unheeded lie?
Shall the choicest buds of heavenly flowers
Be left to famish and faint and die?

Can a woman so cold in our midst be found,
A sordid creature to tempt and pay,
With the pitiful price of a paltry pound
To hurry a feeble child away?
Do women like these in our borders dwell,
Holding their heads perchance erect,
And is there no trumpet voice to tell
Of the infants slaughtered by harsh neglect?

Oh! Surely, surely it cannot be
That such deeds are done 'neath our Southern sky!
That babes are spurned from a mother's knee;
That women are paid to watch them die!
Oh! surely, surely our blood should boil
At the pitiful tales of these baby-farms;
And to cleanse this shame from our teaming soil
Our souls indignant should rise in arms!

There's a wee pinch'd face in a dirty cot,
Two eyes sunk deep in their purple rims,
Two tiny lips that are parch'd and hot,
And oh, such pitiful shrunken limbs!
There's a feeble wail from a failing throat,
A fist that clutches the yielding air,
And a world too cold or too busy to note
That a baby is slowly starving there!
(Register, 15 April 1873 - cited in The Irish Harp, 25 April 1873, page 4.)

Boarding-Out

Destitute, Poor and Orphaned Children

(Taken from Geoffrey H. Manning's A Colonial Experience)

Advertiser

Introduction

From the mid-1840s there has always been a number of children growing up in the streets of Adelaide, wandering about idle by day and sleeping in miserable and vicious homes at night. These are the 'scurf and mildew of the city', tainted with vice from the earliest years and familiar with all manner of petty offences against written and unwritten laws. These are our future paupers and criminals, already crowding, before maturity is reached, the borderland where poverty passes into crime.

Within the sound of the post office clock there exists hundreds of boys and girls who have never been permitted to attend a place of worship. Surrounded by all kinds of evil influences, their homes are places of shame, where sin and drunkenness abound, with no one to speak kindly to them, no one to stimulate them with pure and noble thoughts.

To rescue one such child from the moral abominations of life in the street is not only to save a fellow-being from misery and shame, but to save society at large from all the influences for evil which one vicious life is able to exert.

By 1866 the only home for neglected or destitute children was the Destitute Asylum, where they mingled with old men and women in a dreary abode. The plan was not a success; when old enough they attended school, but were not taught even the simplest tasks. Happily, a new era was at hand under both government and church auspices.

Act No. 12 of 1866-1867 gave power to the government to establish reformatory and industrial schools for neglected, destitute or criminal children and the Roman Catholic Church was not slow to invoke the provisions of this Act. In August 1866 it opened an industrial school at Walkerville, which proved to be of great service to the government when the state of the children at the Grace Darling Home at Brighton excited such general comment in 1867.

At government level, Miss C.E. Clark, of Hazelwood, first applied to the Chief Secretary for one girl and one boy in necessitous circumstances and placed them in cottage homes as boarders with kindly people, who gladly welcomed the children for a weekly payment of six shillings. Miss Clark visited them once a month and their steady improvement in health and behaviour filled her with hope.

However, she was soon to be disappointed for government assistance was terminated and a demand was made that either the foster parents kept the children without payment or they be returned to the Destitute Asylum. The children had become part of the family and, accordingly, the foster parents offered to keep them if clothing could be provided; this Miss Clark promised. Unfortunately, the young boy developed an incurable disease and died, aged 12, while the girl became a useful woman and married a farmer and, in later years, showed her appreciation by visiting and writing to her mentors.

Having proved that boarding-out children was better and cheaper than herding them in an institution, Miss Clark asked for more and, with the help of Miss Catherine Spence, formed a committee of ladies who were willing to visit the children on a regular basis. Miss Spence has often been credited with the foundation of this system, but she was in England when Miss Clark took the first children into her charge. From that time she has been an enthusiastic member of the ladies' committee and afterwards of the council.

At first the Chairman of the Destitute Board, Mr T.S. Reid, was opposed to the plan but, suddenly, he began to place out the children in such numbers that it was difficult to find enough visitors, especially in the country districts. Accordingly, a paid inspector was appointed and, today, there are several men and women whose duty is to see every child twice a year; there are also honorary visitors.

The work progressed so rapidly that the government decided to form a separate department for the children and, in 1887, the members of the boarding-out committee were invited to work under government control and were formed into the State Children's Council - five men and seven women. A receiving house was necessary so all neglected or destitute children when committed, were sent to the industrial school at Edwardstown, where they were kept isolated for a fortnight to ensure that they were free from disease.

This school consisted of a number of cottages standing in a large playground, with a garden attached. One cottage was a hospital, one a school and another an isolation ward. Superimposed on this government activity were several private homes and these are discussed hereunder.

By the mid-1870s, while the Act which regulated the unfortunate child was wise and proper as far as it went, it was evident that there was an urgent necessity for amending it in some degree.

Neglected children belonged to three classes - those who were tainted with crime, but were simply deserted or uncared for by their relatives; those who were neglected and were brought before the police courts on criminal charges; and those who, although not charged with actual crime, were leading vicious lives with the connivance or in spite of the effort of their parents.

The mode of dealing with these three classes was uniformly the same as far as the magistrates were concerned. They were either committed for various terms to the industrial school, and the parents sometimes were, and more frequently were not, called upon to support their children during their term of detention.

Of course, it was not possible to make all parents pay, but there was no reason, when called upon for that special purpose, why they should not show cause if they refused to comply with the order of the court. Indeed, there was no valid ground why they should have been treated better or more leniently than poor debtors who were before the Local Courts constantly on judgement summonses.

While at large, such children spent the best part of their time in the streets and learned all the bad habits which can be picked up there. Any other child in the streets like themselves was a playmate at once and worse ideas spread without the possibility of control until it was too late.

In this environment there were plenty of persons in the city, comparatively small as it was, to turn street children to their own account - gradual encouragement in petty thefts and acquaintance with the inhabitants of loose homes, which paved the way for both sexes to lead the lives of thieves and prostitutes.

The Boarding-Out Society

This society is a very modest and unpretentious one, doing the greater part of its work in quiet and carrying on its operations at an almost ridiculously small cost. The government boarding-out system owed its origins to a conviction on the part of the Destitute Board that it would be better to place pauper children in families, where they could be cared for and moderately educated, and where they would be surrounded with home influences, than to bring them up together in one large establishment as a separate and distinct class.

Children who are bred as paupers rarely, in after life, escape the taint of their early associations. It has been shown in England that a large proportion of those who were born or brought up in the Union Workhouse returned to it again and again. It was their home, to which when things look dark to them outside, they turned to as a refuge.

More than this, it has been found that the barrack life of an asylum for the destitute affords no suitable training for the sort of life which these children will afterwards have to live. Everything in such an institution is done according to set rules and regulations. There the best has to be made of very insufficient life-appliances and a wife and mother in such a circle has a constant call upon her wit, tact and energies, to make the best of little means.

A young girl brought up in public institutions, where all the arrangements are mechanical and according to rule, is but ill-fitted for the struggles and scheming, which are necessary in a poor man's home, to make ends meet. Holding these views the Destitute Board tried long to get the government to sanction the boarding-out of children and, at first, it was uphill work.

We had built a grand mansion, at an extravagant cost, for these children, and having the building it was thought we were bound to fill it. Finally, however, the government agreed to pay five shillings a week for the care of children up to a certain age. Of course, it was necessary to proceed carefully.

The State owed it to the unfortunate waifs not to place them with unsuitable persons. They were fairly entitled to the rough comforts of a poor man's home and to be treated as his own children would be. Regular supervision would be needed to see that the children suffered no wrong and to afford this supervision the Boarding-Out Society was established by a few benevolent ladies.

Some good people looked with suspicion on the system lest it should expose the unfortunate children to unjust and improper treatment. Indeed, this did occur on occasions as evidenced by the following newspaper report:

The child appears to have been troublesome, no unusual circumstance with children of four or five years of age, but her conduct evidently exasperated the foster-father, who gave vent to his annoyance in the most outrageous manner. On one occasion, because the child took some sugar from a basin, he ordered her to go to bed, and on her refusal chased her into the bedroom and seized her by the leg, which broke in his hands.

Prior to this he had struck her on the face with a whip. On previous occasions he had taken the child into the back yard and threatened to cut off her hands with an axe and witnesses testified that among other cruelties he had thrice in succession dipped her head in a bucket of water. He was found guilty and sentenced to three month's imprisonment...

It must seem to all... both strange and unnatural that the defendant's wife should have taken no steps to check the brutality of her husband. One would have thought that her womanly feelings would have led her to interpose for the protection of so young and helpless a sufferer. There is, however, nothing to show that she moved a finger in its behalf...

State Children and the State Children's Council

A neglectful mother signifies a neglected child and it is at this critical stage that the State Children's Department enters the arena and does faithful battle for those handicapped young folk. Too little is known of the magnitude of this branch of actively philanthropic work, yet the State Children's Council, composed of well-known benevolent enthusiasts, does a fine 'labour of love' throughout the year.

Apart from lessening crime and robbing the gaols of embryo criminals, the various committees endeavour to transmit a healthier outlook into stunted minds, and train a pliant nature to realise self-responsibility. Environment often gives a child a poor chance; for in so-called homes 'black's not so black, nor white so very white' and morality is at a low ebb. In such instances, the long arm of the State is stretched out protectingly in the form of a sympathetic 'foster mother'.

It is sometimes contended that the State Children's Council encourages the conscience-less mothers of illegitimate offspring to abandon them, and thus bring added financial burdens upon the government, but this is emphatically wrong. If an unnatural mother is likely to neglect her child, it is better removed to other influences. The mother is forced to contribute towards its support, if possible, and the father is similarly sought out.

What an outsider must realise first, is that the earlier in life training is begun, so much the less correction and patience are needed. Some people consider that the State Children's Council can remould matured lives - 'As though a rose should shut, and be a bud again.' It has been done, but at the cost of a great deal of time and forbearance.

There are various sub-departments of the State Children's Department to cope with each grade of entrant. For instance, the babies have their special supervision and licensed foster-mothers are approved before custody is allowed.

The experience of a probation officer, Miss Kentish, may be of interest. She inspected the house of a mother of alleged neglected children and found 13 cats in the kitchen, which was in a filthy condition. Under the table a large pig lay asleep and a number of fowls and dogs were occupants of the room.

In the front bedroom there was a dirty mattress and bedding and rubbish of all descriptions was spread about. The little girl was clothed scantily and appeared to be unwell, and the boy, when spoken to, rolled his eyes and seemed to be unable to speak plainly. He had a large scar on his neck.

The mother said the 'cats were her sister's hobby and she, herself, bred dogs. Her husband had deserted her nine years ago and she was not sorry to lose him as he had practically existed on whisky. her children had never been educated because they were abnormal. The pig was her "watch dog".' Subsequently, the children were committed to the care of the Industrial School.

General Notes

"Boarding-Out of Destitute Children" is in the Observer,
22 April 1871, page 13d,
24 June 1871, page 13d,
30 November 1872, page 15d,
9 August 1873, page 13b.

"The Boarding-Out Society" in the Express,
4 November 1874, page 2c.

"Changes in the Boarding-Out System" in the Observer,
27 March 1875, page 13d,
3 April 1875, page 13g; also see
10 April 1875, page 13f,
25 September 1875, page 13c.

"The Boarding-Out Society" is in the Observer,
7 November 1874, page 13a,
14 October 1876, page 13g; also see
14 May 1881, page 848b,
15 October 1881, page 24d,
10 May 1884, page 37a,
Register,
6 October 1883, page 5a,
Express,
6 October 1883, page 3d,
23 May 1884, page 3c,
23 May 1884, page 3c,
8 October 1884, page 6a,
4 August 1886, page 7c,
27 September 1886, page 3a-d,
7 January 1887, page 5a.

A report on a Boarding Out Society is in the Express,
27 September 1879, page 3b,
Register,
10 October 1879, page 6f,
24 and 27 January 1880, pages 5b and 6c,
8 October 1881, page 5a,
Advertiser,
6 October 1883, page 6e; also see
Register,
10 and 17 March 1881, pages 7c and 1f (supp.),
11, 13, 17, 23 and 27 September 1886, pages 4f-7c, 4g, 4e-6e, 4g and 4g,
Advertiser,
17 May 1884, page 4f,
14 and 21 June 1884, pages 6c and 4c,
10 and 27 September 1884, pages 4f and 4d,
13 October 1884, page 4d,
28 November 1884, page 6c,
2, 4 and 5 September 1885, pages 7a, 5d and 4e,
7 December 1885, page 4e,
27 September 1886, page 4d.

"Licensing Foster-Mothers" is in the Register,
26 November 1886, page 5c.

Biographical details of Miss C.E. Clark, "the founder of the boarding-out system", are in the Observer,
25 August 1906, page 39e,
Register,
15 August 1906, page 4i; also see
19 September 1906, page 4e.

"Boarding-Out State Children" is in the Register,
12 January 1893, page 5d.

"Boarding Out - The National Foster-Mother" appears on
18 November 1903, page 6f; also see
15 January 1904, page 8a.
"The State as Foster Parent" is in the Register,
19 August 1911, page 12e.

"Afternoon With the Babies - Boarded- Out Children" is in the Register,
16 June 1909, page 7b.

"Boarding-Out - Children of the Poor" is in the Register,
1 February 1917, page 7b.

"A Home Menagerie - Pigs, Cats and Fowls Indoors" is in the Register,
12 December 1917, page 7d.

"The State as Foster Mother" is in the Register,
12 February 1919, page 6h.

State Children

State Children in the 20th Century

Taken from Geoffrey H. Manning's A Colonial Experience

Register

Introduction

In many respects South Australia has led the world in the effective treatment of neglected children. It is a proud boast and experience has justified it. Overseas experts who have read the history of our State Children's Council have been loud in their praise of its grand record and the splendid methods by which it has been achieved.

Those who have been identified with the institution since its establishment, based on the far-seeing report of the Destitute Commission in 1887, have shown singular aptitude for the work and their united efforts, born of untiring enthusiasm and a genuine sympathy for the welfare of the unfortunate boys and girls, have built up an excellent system, distinguished for its general efficiency and admirable comprehensiveness.

No similar body has tackled the problems of child life with more consistent vigour and earnestness than this department and, all things considered, none has been more successful. The policy throughout has been rich in initiative and sound in enterprise. It took the first council only a year or so to foresee the far-reaching advantages of a juvenile court, 'with its privacy, the absence of loaferdom, and of all the associations of criminals and dissipation.'

Repeated requests in that direction were made and, in April 1890, the first legally constituted juvenile court was opened in Adelaide. Permanency and extended scope were given to it by the Acts of 1895 and 1900 and now all children under 18 years must be dealt with there; Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York have since followed suit. Then on the initiation of what the energetic president, Mr Thomas Rhodes, calls 'the blessed and successful boarding-out system', the South Australian authorities have led the way.

In other directions, too, our work is admittedly unique in the annals of similar institutions throughout the world. Free justice is administered on behalf of the poor and probably no lawyer in receipt of big fees would devote greater research into legal subjects, than is carried out willingly and with sincere courtesy by these officials.

The circumstances are usually pitiable. A girl wife has been deserted and she has been thrown upon her own weak resources; a young widow with tear-red eyes and pinched face telling a sad history, pleads for her hungry, ill-clad children and so on.

It is officially estimated that the department turns out 80 per cent of good cases. When it is considered that the calculation is based on the returns from the whole of the institutions, reformatories included, the result is remarkably good. No State in the Commonwealth can claim more satisfactory figures and statistics relative to the work of similar establishments in different parts of the world confirm the superior effectiveness of our system.

A Piece of History

The State Children's Department is a development of the old Boarding-Out Society which did splendid work on behalf of unfortunate children for all but three decades. The pioneers of the movement were Miss Charlotte Clark, Miss Catherine Spence and Mrs John Colton and its splendid success testifies to the genuine, whole-hearted energy of these ladies.

The utility and effectiveness of the system were demonstrated quickly and at the beginning of 1887 it was supplanted by the State Children's Council with Dr E.C. Stirling as the first president. For nine years that body worked under The Destitute Persons Amendment Act of 1886, but this measure restricted the functions of the council and the need for extended powers was pointed out repeatedly. In 1895 an Act based on its recommendations was passed. It has been twice amended and is now considered to be 'within measurable distance of perfection.'

Significant Statistics

As I write in January 1904 there are 1,364 children under the control of the department, an increase of about 40 on the figures of a year ago. Generally speaking, the admirably conducted institutions managed by the council are not by any means full, for there is accommodation for over 5,000 boys or girls. If the extent of government provisions be any criterion, there is an element of satisfaction about the statistics.

In the various schools and reformatories there are now 248 children, while 1,116 are what is officially known as 'placed out', that is to say, they are in homes under the supervision of the State Children's Council. The success of the system is revealed by the steady increase in the annual totals. In 1900, 1,006 children were drafted to different parts of the State and 1,055 in 1903.

The seven establishments under the auspices of the council and the number of the inmates are as follows: Industrial School, 58 boys and girls; Magill Reformatory, 50 boys; Brooklyn Park Reformatory, 33 girls; Probationary School, Woodville, 30 girls; Mount Barker Reformatory, 35 boys; Redruth Reformatory, 27 girls and Kapunda Reformatory, 15 girls.

The Protection of Infant Life

Possibly few people are cognisant of the remarkably successful career of this State as a foster-mother. The national system for the preservation of infant life is a fine one and the influence of the work of the State Children's Council on our population statistics is becoming increasingly important.

South Australia has most advanced legislation on the subject and it is authoritatively estimated that if certain vital provisions were not enforced vigorously the death rate among State children would jump quickly to 50 per cent. The policy pursued by the department is an object lesson to other similar institutions in the Commonwealth and the interstate officials have not been slow to admit it.

While authorities in Victoria are deploring the 'excessive mortality among infants under governmental care, we are rejoicing at the low percentage of deaths in our various establishments. When it is remembered that many of these children were afflicted with ailments not found among children born in normal circumstances, and that all of them were artificially fed, the small death rate must be regarded as evidence of the attention they received from the foster-mothers.

The State Children's Council has the supervision of the 44 lying-in homes in the State. Although having no jurisdiction over charges, licences are granted by the department and inspection is carried out by its officers. I learned from the secretary of the council that during the last five years illegitimate births have increased steadily - In 1899 there were 52; 1900, 55; 1901, 39; 1902, 66 and 1903, 68 births.

Unsatisfactory as they are these figures deal only with cases reported to the department and the council fears that if it were possible to obtain complete totals the number of child mothers would reveal a sad record of degradation:

If this were done I feel sure that the tendency would be in the direction of less immorality. It would lead to the steady avoidance by men and boys of any woman or girl whose character is not above suspicion.

Owing to the severity of the inspection, the character of the homes of foster-mothers during the last few years has been improved gradually, until now when it is distinctly good. Directly there is the least suggestion of neglect or unfavourable influence the licence is cancelled and the child immediately returned to the authorities.

Before a house is registered it is examined thoroughly and the status of the inmates enquired into. The decreasing mortality among the infants indicates the caution which is exercised by the visiting officials but, as an official explained to me:

Miss Moule, the efficient inspectress, who has accomplished excellent work..., says it is only necessary to be able to read to understand the instructions and 'even reporters might make good foster-mothers.' Her greatest difficulty, she said, is to get guardians to realise the importance of keeping their feeding bottles clean... She thinks many mothers are sadly ignorant of even the rudiments of baby management.

In South Australia the professional nurse is not tolerated. Experience has proved that where child-rearing is made a means of livelihood disadvantages creep in. There is a tendency to undertake more work than it is possible to accomplish effectively. In Victoria, recently, a nurse stated she had 16 infants entrusted to her in four years and that ten of them had died. It is reported that in the sister State such instances are of frequent occurrence.

There is a growing tendency on the part of foster-mothers to adopt the children under their care. Last year 23 did so. This, of course, is done with the consent of the mother and the objections are few. 'The poor girls are, generally, only too glad to be able to rid themselves of the burden.' Some of them, however, will not allow their offspring to be taken from them 'for all the gold in the world.'

Making Good Citizens

To imbue neglected or criminally disposed children with noble aspirations, by placing them the ideal of good citizenship - In a nutshell that is the whole object of the State Children's Council and it would be difficult to find a worthier one.

City life, everywhere, presents facilities for the mental and physical development of the people, but boys and girls, when left to themselves, are not usually found in those avenues which lead to careers of usefulness and influence. Vice, glittering like a gem with many facets, appeals with seductive charm. The pity of it is that where parental authority is deficient, and culture is lacking, the tendency is always downward and the facile descent is hastened too often by the rosy allurements to depraved habits and practices.

There may be those who question the efficacy of some of the methods adopted by the State Children's Department, but none cam cavil at the grand sincerity with which the members of the council conduct their humane work. The splendid service rendered by the late secretary, Mr J.B. Whitington, will always figure prominently in the history of the movement. He took up his duties in 1887 and relinquished them in June 1903 to proceed to England as secretary to the Agent-General.

The department has the power to retain girl inmates three years longer than the maximum period of incarceration ordered by the magistrate, but it is exercised discreetly. The object is not punishment but protection:

Probably the most critical period of a young woman's life is when she is emerging from her teens, and the class of girls we deal with emphasises the necessity for protection for another year or two. The power given to the Council in the 1885 Act is a wise one, and its possibilities for good are undoubtedly great.

We don't keep the girls in the institutions for the longer term because they are bad girls, but the reason that we want to take care of them. I wish we could do the same with the boys. I feel that the operation of such a provision would, to a large extent, prevent reconvictions. We never turn children out into the streets, and so far as possible we find situations for them when they relinquish their connection with the department.

The council is now adopting a new system in connection with the visits of medical officers to homes where State children are staying. Hitherto, they have been paid a 'rule-of-thumb' salary and the practice operated unfairly on both sides. The department hopes to win the sympathy and assistance of medical gentlemen in arranging for payment on a per capita basis for the year.

The scheme is to secure the doctors as chairmen of local committees, so these bodies may enjoy their guidance and expert advice. With visiting organisations of this character in every district in the State the council are sanguine that important results will be achieved. The medical officers will be brought into closer touch with the children and their homes, the functions of the department will be better understood and the zealous secretary, Mr Gray, thinks the effect will be to raise the status of the boys and girls who, in official parlance, are 'placed out'. Two inspectors - lady and gentleman - are permanently engaged by the government to visit and report upon the various institutions and homes.

Conclusion

In the history of child welfare in South Australia the boarding-out system has been the key to the problem of dealing with the unfit. If one doctrine of heredity were true, these waifs are born in a prison house of vicious inherited tendencies from which all hope of salvation must be abandoned; but, happily, for humanity heredity cannot be restricted to immediate parenthood.

The sub-conscious mind is the sum of all the ancestral experience, and environment or education may develop either the good or the evil potentialities contained in it. In this fact lies the possibility of eliminating crime and of elevating the race.

Strange though it may be, to this age has been left the rediscovery of a primary truth among the ancient Hebrews - that the only effective educational agent is the home; that, while the school has become an inevitable substitute, its value diminishes the further it recedes from the parental model.

Public schools, reformatories, gaols and other institutions, in proportion as they tend to the barrack system, cease to be educational, reformatory, or penitential. The reason for the failure is that the government becomes mechanical; it deals with a human being as a human machine and not as a human soul.

The mistake of this anti-sentimental treatment is equally disastrous in relation to the infant and young child, who needs for its vigorous development pure love no less than pure milk. Though the placing out of little ones supplies only a substitutory parentage and secondary home, yet where the foster-parents - however humble - are industrious and kind, the children adopted originally for subsistence money invariably win an affection that gold cannot buy, an affection which possesses the true mystic family value.

The success which has attended the efforts of the State Children's Council, in connection with boarding-out, is probably due wholly to the supreme importance the members attach to the establishment of this indefinable and marvellous tie, the greatest of all forces of human nature. There is, therefore, no likelihood of the present co-ordinating movement degenerating in the name of uniformity into a red-tape departmentalism.

As the office of local committees and honorary visitors is to promote the growth of genuine sentiment relative to the engrafted buds, they must be left sufficient scope for the play of that individuality which answers only to the law of intuitive love. Every boy and girl thus saved to become respectable citizens and to live on the high plane of duty and self-respect are saved, not only from disturbing the peace and security of society, but to multiply human happiness.

The government in assisting and honouring this splendid enterprise is representing the cordial sentiment of the community towards the widespread band of unostentatious workers in the cause of humanity.

A Postscript - 1908

As I enter my 84th year I must record that New South Wales has recently secured legislation for children's courts of justice and for the protection of infant life similar to what we have had in operation in South Australia for 14 years, and in Victoria the press is urging the unproved example of New South Wales, rather than the proved experience of South Australia for initiation in the matter of juvenile courts.

The wonderful success of the courts in the United States, after Chicago improved on the example of Boston and adopted our Adelaide plan of having a separate court and a separate place of detention is really a far more forcible appeal to justice and common sense than can be drawn from New South Wales; but, however, the point may be pressed, we hope it may be pressed home, that the Commonwealth, State after State, adopt both our South Australian measures.

I repeat, South Australia was the first community to lay down a system of subsidy which allowed respectable people to give homes and care, and generally love, to the children of wastrels and drunkards, as well as to orphans. All over Australia the example has been followed with success. If we had trusted to American placing out we should still have orphanages and crowded institutions instead of dispersing all our wards in country or suburban homes.

As yet the provisions in South Australia for the protection of infant life are unique - there are no such safeguards in England, America or Canada - but as New South Wales has followed our lines closely we may expect a little flutter on the subject of baby farming, and the need of women inspectors of licensed foster homes in Victoria instead of policemen.

General Notes

A history of the care of State (destitute) children is in the Register,
18 July 1917, page 9f.

"The Children of the State in SA" is in the Register,
14 February 1881, page 4e.

A picnic for State children at the Grange is reported in the Chronicle,
23 December 1882, page 28d.
Also see Adelaide - Picnics

"Children of the State" is in the Chronicle,
7 November 1885, page 4c.

"State Children's Council" is in the Register,
9 December 1886, page 4h,
28 September 1887, page 4f,
18 January 1889, pages 4f-6c,
7 February 1889, page 4f.

"The Custody of Infants' Bill" is in the Register,
2 November 1883, pages 4e-5a,
Observer,
10 November 1883, page 24e (34e?).

See Register,
21 February 1884, page 6g and
10 June 1887, pages 4h and 6f for information on "State Children's Regulations".

"Care of State Children" is in the Register,
6 October 1886, page 4g,
4 September 1889, page 4f,
"The Protection of State Children" on
9 October 1889, page 4g.

"State Children's Council" is in the Register,
9 December 1886, page 4h,
28 September 1887, page 4f,
18 January 1889, pages 4f-6c,
7 February 1889, page 4f.

"State Children's Regulations" is in the Register,
10 June 1887, pages 4h-6f.

"The Care of State Children" is in the Chronicle,
18 June 1887, page 5c.

"Management of State Children" is in the Observer,
11 and 18 June 1887, pages 32c and 7d; also see
19 January 1889, page 31d,
1 October 1892, page 25c,
4 February 1893, page 33a.

Information on the State Children's Council is in the Register,
7 January 1887, page 4g,
19 September 1888, page 4f,
29 November 1888, page 4g,
10, 11 and 13 December 1888, pages 5d, 4h and 6e,
13 and 14 June 1889, pages 7g and 4g,
24 September 1891, page 4f,
18 October 1893, page 4f,
5 October 1894, page 4g,
Observer,
15 and 29 December 1888, pages 29a and 24e,
9 February 1889, page 26a,
15 February 1890, page 30a.

"Children of the State" is in the Observer,
14 September 1889, page 24e,
"The Protection of Children" on
12 October 1889, page 25c; also see
21 December 1889, page 17a.

"The Children of the State" is in the Register,
5 September 1890, page 4e,
Observer,
13 September 1890, page 25a.

"State Children" is in the Register,
17 December 1889, page 4h.

"Children of the State - How are they Treated" is in the Advertiser,
2 April 1890, page 5f,
Register,
25 August 1899, page 6c,
13, 14 and 15 January 1904, pages 6d, 6d and 8a; also see
Express,
9 February 1904, page 4f.
"Heartless Cruelty" is in the Register,
4 December 1890, page 4f-g.

"Ill-Treating State Children" is in the Observer,
16, 23 and 30 July 1892, pages 32e, 29a and 29a.

"State Children" is in the Advertiser,
25 July 1892, page 6b.
"Wards of the State" is in the Advertiser,
18 October 1893, page 4c,
Register,
7 November 1893, page 6b,
Observer,
11 November 1893, page 44d,
4 September 1897, page 41a,
Advertiser,
4 October 1894, page 4e,
25 September 1895, page 4i,
25 August 1897, page 4e,
14 September 1898, page 4d,
24 August 1899, page 4e,
29 August 1900, page 4e,
Register,
22 June 1901, page 7i,
10 February 1909, page 4f,
17 August 1910, page 4c,
6 September 1912, page 6c.

"The Children of the State" is in the Register,
3 and 7 November 1893, pages 5a and 4h-6b.

"State Children and Their Guardians" is in the Observer,
28 September 1895, page 14c.

"Ill-Treating a State Child" is in the Register,
15 July 1892, page 6h.

"State Children" is in the Observer,
4 February 1893, page 33a.

"A State Child - Action Against a Matron" is in the Observer,
25 May 1895, page 30b.

"State Children and Their Guardians" is in the Register,
25 September 1895, page 4h,
"The State Children Act" on 24 January 1896, page 4h,
"State Children's Act Regulations" on
1 May 1896, pages 4h-5b,
Observer,
9 May 1896, page 43a.

"State Children's Report" in the Register,
9 September 1896, page 4h.

"State Children" is in the Weekly Herald,
3 December 1898, page 8a,
"State Children Reformatories" is in the Weekly Herald,
10 December 1898, page 9a.

"The Children of the State" is in the Register,
14 September 1898, page 4e.

Also see Register,
29 August 1900, page 4d,
Observer,
7 September 1901, page 34a,
Advertiser,
5 September 1901, page 4c,
21 August 1902, page 4d.

"Convicted State Children" is in the Register,
18 and 27 March 1902, pages 4f and 4f.
"State Children and Crime" is in the Observer,
29 March 1902, page 45b.

State children are discussed in the Register,
10 September 1903, page 6g,
Observer,
27 August 1904, page 38a.

"State Children - Do They Become Criminals?" in the Advertiser on
9 February 1904, page 6h; also see
27 August 1904, page 6c.

"Children of the State - How They Are Treated" is in the Register,
13, 14 and 15 January 1904, pages 6d, 6d and 8a.

Also see Observer,
16 and 23 January 1904, pages 38c and 37a,
Advertiser,
17 August 1905, page 4b,
15 March 1906, page 8g,
20 November 1907, page 9c.

"Child Saving - Work of the State Children's Council" is in the Register,
10 January 1906, page 5a.

"Wards of the State" is in the Register,
15 March 1906, page 3h,
17 September 1906, page 6f,
3 September 1910, page 15f.

"Whipping State Children" is discussed in the Advertiser,
25 and 26 August 1909, pages 6e and 6c,
"State Child Flogged" on
21 January 1922, page 11e.
Also see Corporal Punishment

"State Children's Congress" is in the Register,
17, 18 and 20 May 1909, pages 4c, 7a and 4f-7a.

Also see Advertiser,
18 May 1909, page 6c,
30 September 1909, page 6c,
17 August 1910, page 10c,
6 September 1912, page 8d,
15 August 1913, page 11d,
Express,
5 June 1914, page 3h.

"How the State Cares for its Children" is in the Advertiser,
14 August 1909, page 9e.

"State Children and Dentistry" is in the Express,
23 June 1909, page 1g.
Also see Health - Dentistry

"State Children's Quarters - In the Grip of Black Rats" is in the Register,
17 January 1910, page 4c,
new premises are discussed in the Register,
8 October 1910, page 12f.
Also see Mice,Snakes and Rats

"The State Children System" is in the Register,
10 June 1910, page 3f.

"Children of the Streets", by Catherine H. Spence, is in the Register,
22 October 1910, page 15c.

"Notes on Delinquent Children", by T. Rhodes, President of the State Children's Council, is in the Register,
24 October 1910, page 6e.

"Adoption of Children" is in the Advertiser,
15 August 1911, page 6d.
"Adoption of Children - South Australian Procedure" is in The Mail,
2 April 1927, page 1g.

"Adoption of Children" is in the Register,
19 August 1925, page 9h. Also see
Advertiser,
24 October 1923, page 8f,
25 September 1925, page 12f,
The News,
1 October 1924, page 6e.

"Girl Mothers" is in the Register,
10 and 12 July 1912, pages 10a and 9f.

"A Ward of the State - Traffic in Human Flesh" is in the Register,
4 December 1913, page 7c.

Information on State Children is in the Register,
25 September 1914, page 4c.

"State Children and Their Parents" is in the Observer,
1 May 1915, page 43c.
"The Little Ones - History of State Children Care" is in the Register,
18 July 1917, page 9f.
A history of child welfare is in The News,
19 June 1928, page 6e.

"State Children - And Their Parents" is in the Register,
23 April 1915, page 7b.

"Wards of the State" is in the Register,
24 September 1915, page 4b,
13 December 1916, page 6d.

"Wards of the State - Leg Irons at a Reformatory" is in the Register,
10 December 1915, page 4i.

"State Children's Court" is in the Register,
13 May 1916, page 9c.

"Child Life and State Responsibility" is in the Register,
30 June 1916, page 4f.

"Child Welfare Exhibition" is in the Register,
2, 3, 4 and 6 November 1916, pages 7a, 7a, 8c-11b and 6c.

Biographical details of J. Gray are in the Register,
22 June 1917, page 5b,
"Mr Gray - Foster Parent of State Children" is in The Mail,
20 January 1923, page 2d.

"Wards of the State" is in the Register,
24 September 1919, page 6c,
21 September 1920, page 6e,
25 September 1924, page 11g,
17, 23 and 24 September 1925, pages 11f, 9f and 9e,
31 October 1925, page 13e.

"Punishment of State Children" is in the Register,
7 January 1921, page 4f.

"Care of Neglected Children" is in the Register,
2 September 1925, page 10e.

"Work of State Children's Department" is in The Mail,
15 May 1926, page 1f.

"State Children's Council Attacked" is in the Observer,
5 June 1926, page 45.

"State Children" is in the Register,
1 June 1926, page 11a,
Advertiser,
14 March 1927, page 15e.

"Caring for Wards of the State" is in The Mail,
13 June 1931, page 19e.

"Rights of the State Over the Child" is in The News,
27 July 1933, page 8f,
"State's Big Family" on
23 October 1933, page 4g.

Children and Youths - Miscellany

The education of destitute children is discussed in the Register,
13 May 1864, page 3a.
Also see Education

"Pauper Children" is in the Register,
20 March 1866, page 2e,
Observer,
24 March 1866, page 6c.

"Vagrant Children" is in the Chronicle,
25 August 1866, page 3g,
"An Industrial School for Children" is in the Register,
17 August 1866, page 2c,
7 and 15 September 1866, pages 2e and 2b,
Observer,
25 August 1866, page 6d,
15 and 22 September 1866, pages 6c and 6c; also see
Express,
26 and 29 October 1866, pages 2b and 2d.

"Bush Children" is in the Chronicle,
20 October 1866, page 4f.

"The Destitute Children" is in the Chronicle,
16 March 1867, page 1a (supp.).

"The Juvenile Reformatory Act" is in the Register,
7 June 1867, page 2b,
Observer,
15 June 1867, page 4d,
31 August 1867, page 6a; also see
1 February 1868, page 13e.

"Cruelty to Children" is in the Express,
16 January 1868, page 3d.

"The Catholic Orphanage" is in the Chronicle,
22 February 1868, page 6c,
"Neglected Children" on
22 August 1868, page 6d.

"Destitute Children in the Government Schools" is in the Observer,
22 May 1869, page 11d.
Also see State Schools

"Care of the Young" is in the Register,
1 and 10 July 1869, pages 3c and 3b,
Observer,
3 July 1869, page 6d.

"Our Poor Children" is in the Chronicle,
9 October 1869, page 6f.

"Destitution and Juvenile Criminality" is in the Register,
13 April 1872, page 4e,
Observer,
20 April 1872, page 13e,
"Destitute and Criminal Children" is in the Chronicle,
16 November 1872, page 12c,
21 June 1873, page 11g.

"Legislating for Juveniles" is in the Register,
9 November 1872, page 4e,
Observer,
16 November 1872, page 13c.

"Neglected and Criminal Children" is in the Register,
7 February 1873, page 4f.

An inquest upon an infant and comments upon destitute authorities are in the Observer,
27 December 1873, page 9g.

"Neglected and Criminal Children" is in the Register,
7 February 1873:

Scarcely a week passes without furnishing evidence of the need for a far more effectual provision against the ill effects of unscrupulous parental negligence...

"Baby Farming in the North" is in the Express,
10 April 1873, page 2f,
The Irish Harp,
25 April 1873, page 4a,
Chronicle,
12 April 1873, page 6g,
Express,
9 November 1878, page 2d,
"Baby Farming" in the The Lantern,
18 June 1881, page 7 (poem),
3 September 1881, page 9,
Chronicle,
9 July 1881, page 5d,
18 February 1882, page 4f,
25 March 1882, page 5a,
19 December 1885, page 8d,
Register,
26 August 1882, page 5a,
Express,
15 and 18 December 1885, pages 4a and 3d,
9 April 1890, page 6a,
Chronicle,
19 April 1890, page 5c,
Advertiser,
9 April 1890, page 4d,
8, 12 and 22 November 1892, pages 6e, 4e and 7b,
19 January 1893, page 4f,
Register,
7, 8 and 14 November 1892, pages 5c, 5b and 4f,
19 and 23 January 1893, pages 4h and 5c,
Observer,
21 January 1893, page 24e.

"Juvenile Destitution in South Australia" is in the Register,
22 February 1875, page 4g,
Observer,
27 February 1875, page 13d.

"Neglected Children" is in the Chronicle,
11 September 1875, page 5f,
29 January 1876, page 5b.

"The Training of Youth" is in the Express,
16 March 1878, page 3b.

"What Should Youth Live For?" is in the Register,
1 August 1879, page 5f.

"Ill-Treatment of Children" is in the Register,
26 November 1879, page 4f,
Observer,
29 November 1879, page 13b.

"[Destitute] Children's Savings" is in the Register,
29 October 1881, page 5c.

"The Rising Generation" is in The Lantern,
21 May 1881, page 1.

"Girls Reformatory Management" is in the Register,
5 and 25 September 1882, pages 4e and 4g.

"Juvenile Beggars" is in the Register,
18 October 1883, page 7f.

"The Management of Juvenile Paupers" is in the Register,
29 April 1884, page 4d,
14 and 18 June 1884, pages 4h and 4h.

Proposed legislation for "the protection of the purity of young girls" is discussed in the Advertiser, 6 September 1883, page 4f:

Numbers of persons may always be found and willing to blame and punish "fallen women", but who will come out and attack the strong-hold of this terrible scourge "fallen men"?... Among its chief supporters are to be found highly-educated and those who are supposed to be highly respectable men - men holding important positions in the State, in the Church, and in society generally.

Also see Advertiser,
12, 13 and 18 September 1883, pages 6e, 4d and 6e,
11 October 1883, page 4d,
26 and 29 September 1884, pages 4g and 4d,
5, 11, 21 and 24 August 1885, pages 4d, 7f, 4d and 7d,
21 and 26 September 1885, pages 4f and 6b,
23 October 1885, page 4c,
Express,
19 February 1886, page 2d.

Instances of cruelty to destitute children are discussed in the Register,
24 June 1884, page 4g,
16 July 1884, page 4g,
Express,
24 June 1884, page 2g,
10 September 1884, page 6d,
17, 28 and 29 November 1884, pages 3c, 3f and 3e,
1 December 1884, page 4b.

"The Control of Children" is in the Observer,
10 May 1884, page 37c; also see
17 May 1884, page 34d.

"The Protection of Young Females" is in the Register,
24 September 1884, page 4g,
Observer,
27 September 1884, page 25a,
"Protection of Young Women" in the Chronicle,
27 September 1884, page 5c,
4 October 1884, pages 5b-e-21e,
15 November 1884, page 4e,
7 February 1885, page 5e,
"The Young Person's Protection Act" on
20 February 1886, page 5b.

"Apprenticing Criminal Children" is in the Chronicle,
8 December 1883, page 5c.

"Cruelty to a Destitute Boy" is in the Chronicle,
28 June 1884, page 8g; also see
13 September 1884, page 5e,
29 November 1884, page 22f,
6 December 1884, page 12f.

"The Religion of Destitute Children" is in the Observer,
26 July 1884, page 24d.
Also see Religion

"Assaults Upon Female Children" is in the Register,
15 May 1885, page 5a.

"Destitute Poor Relief" is in the Register,
2 November 1885, page 4g.

"Uncrontollable Children" is in the Register,
27 January 1886, page 4e.

"What Are We To Do With Our Children?" is in the Register,
12 and 13 February 1886, pages 7e and 7h.

"Three Methods of Dealing With Juveniles" is in the Register,
25 March 1886, page 4g.

"Destitute Children" is in the Register,
24 and 27 August 1886, pages 6g and 3f.

"Remember the Poor Children" is in the Observer,
14 December 1889, page 30c,
11 January 1890, page 31b.

"Juvenile Depravity" is in the Chronicle,
16 August 1884, page 5c,
Register,
7 December 1898, page 4g,
Advertiser,
21 May 1897, page 7a,
4 April 1903, page 10h,
15 and 16 September 1903, pages 4b and 6g,
12 October 1903, page 6e,
9 April 1904, page 6c,
Express,
30 January 1903, page 2d,
Register,
23 May 1918, page 4b.

"Institute for Truant Children" is in the Chronicle,
18 April 1885, page 7e.
Also see Education - Truancy

"Children of the State" is in the Register,
7 November 1885, page 4c.

A poem titled "The Waif" is in The Lantern,
14 January 1888, page 17.

The inaugural "Baby Show" is reported in the Advertiser,
24 October 1889, page 5c,
Observer,
26 October 1889, page 31b
"The Baby Competition" on
18 May 1921, page 13h.

"Protection to Infant Life" is in the Register on
7 March 1882, page 4f,
"Uncontrollable and Neglected Children" on
23 December 1882, page 4g and
21 February 1884, page 6g,
"A Neglected Child" in the Register,
3 March 1885, page 4h,
16 October 1886, page 4f,
Express,
23 April 1885, page 3c.

The brutal treatment of illegitimate children is traversed in the Register,
11 June 1881, page 4f.
The subject of "Illegitimate Children" is discussed in the Chronicle,
25 October 1884, page 6g,
Advertiser,
22 December 1885, page 5d.
"Illegitimate - The Child Born Out of Wedlock" is in the Register,
22 June 1922, page 11a.
"The Mother of an Illegitimate Child", an address by Kate Cocks, is in the Register on
24 June 1914, page 9b,

"The Death-Rate and Children" is in the Register,
24 April 1893, page 4f.

"Maintenance of Destitute Children" is in the Register,
25 February 1891, page 4f,
Observer,
28 February 1891, page 25a.

"The Protection of Children" is in the Observer,
29 December 1894, page 24c.

"Children's Christmas Cheer" is in the Chronicle,
26 December 1891, page 21f.
"Christmas Cheer for Children" is in the Advertiser,
24 and 26 December 1894, pages 6c and 6f.
Also see Christmas in South Australia

"Our Uncontrollables" is in the Register,
24 September 1892, page 2a (supp.),
"Neglected Children" on
11 October 1892, page 6c.

"Imbecile Children" is in the Observer,
26 March 1892, page 39d.

"The Better Protection of Infants" is in the Register,
23 November 1892, pages 4g-6d.

"How Reformatory Children Develop" is in the Observer,
22 March 1902, page 46b.

"Unfortunate Children" is in the Register,
13 December 1893, page 5d.

"Neglected and Criminal Children" is in the Advertiser,
15 March 1894, page 4f,
"The Treatment for Weak-Minded Children" on
24 March 1894, page 7c,
"The Trial of Children" on
10 October 1896, page 5a.

"Charges of Cruelty" is in the Register,
8 November 1895, page 3e.

"Bad Boys" is in the Advertiser,
3 July 1897, page 4f.

"Juvenile Delinquency" is in theRegister,
27 August 1897, page 4d,
Advertiser,
15 September 1897, page 3h,
5 April 1909, page 6c,
"Juvenile Reform" on
9 December 1898, page 4e,
"Juvenile Offenders" on
25 April 1900, page 4e.

"Juvenile Crime and the Police" is in the Register,
27 August 1897, page 4d.
Also see Crime.

"Physical Training for the Young" is in the Advertiser,
6 September 1897, page 4h.
Also see Education.

Some of the evils of foster-parenting are discussed in the Advertiser,
16 November 1897, page 4d under the heading "A Horrible Traffic".

"Are Youths Becoming More Wicked" is in the Register,
24 February 1898, page 4d.

The Children's Protection Bill is discussed in the Advertiser,
22 and 30 September 1898, pages 4d and 6g.
"A Preposterous Bill" is in the Register,
27 and 30 September 1898, pages 4e and 6c.

"The Churches and the Children" is in the Advertiser,
20 October 1898, page 4f.
Also see Religion.

"The Curse of Child Labor" is in the Weekly Herald,
21 July 1900, page 6c.

"The Children of Drunken Women" is in the Register,
23 June 1900, page 6d.

"What Shall We do with Our Boys?" is in the Advertiser,
17 April 1900, page 6e,
"The Youth of the Colony" on
5 November 1900, page 3g,
"The Boy Problem" on
28 October 1903, page 9d,
"Boy Problems" on
6 April 1904, page 6c.

The Sunbeam Society is discussed in the Register,
2 October 1901, page 6d,
1 September 1902, page 4d,
1 and 15 September 1906, pages 6e and 6g-8e,
4 February 1907, page 5g,
3 October 1913, page 7a.

"A Social Problem" is in the Express,
16 October 1901, page 2c.
"Social Problems" in the Register,
7 November 1911, page 6d.

"Our Young People" is in the Advertiser,
6 December 1901, page 4b:

Almost the only topics of conversation are connected with some kind of sport; such reading as these boys indulge in is mainly of the "penny dreadful" character, and their ideas are painfully low... His ethical standard and moral principle... leave much to be desired... When domestic discipline is relaxed... a diminished respect for wholesome rule is sure to follow, and the habit of obedience that should be interwoven with natural affection will materially suffer.

"Juvenile Offenders" in The Herald,
7 February 1903, page 3a,
"The Problem of Youth" in the Register,
28 February 1903, page 8g,
"Juvenile Crime and Reformation" in the Advertiser on
16 February 1904, page 4c.

"Juvenile Depravity" is in The Herald,
18 April 1903, page 4a.
"Juvenile Crime" in the Observer,
12 December 1903, page 37d.

"Suicide in Children" is in the Register,
26 June 1903, page 3e.

"The Australian Girl" is in the Express,
13 November 1903, page 4f.

"Children on Dairy Farms" is in the Advertiser,
23 April 1904, page 6f,
"Waifs and Strays" of Adelaide on
14 and 15 June 1904, pages 4f and 9d,
22 November 1907, page 6c.

"Waifs and Strays" is in the Register,
24 August 1904, pages 4c-4h-7d.

"The Claims of the Child" is in the Advertiser,
16 August 1904, page 7c,
"Training Orphan Girls" on
17 August 1904, page 7c.

"Neglected Children - An Appeal to the Community" is in the Observer,
19 August 1905, page 38b,
"Charge Against Factory Children" on
21 October 1905, page 41d.

"Unbaptised Children" is in the Advertiser,
4 September 1905, page 6c.

"Remember the Sick Children" is in the Register on
9 and 10 September 1904, pages 5c and 7b,
"Rescuing the Children" on
19 November 1907, page 4c,
"Parents and Children - and the Policeman" on
21 and 25 November 1907, pages 8c and 6a,
"Pauperism and the Child" on
2 November 1910, page 6b.

"Keeping the Children off the Streets" is in the Express,
17 January 1906, page 2d.

"Cruelty to Children - Some Painful Cases" is in the Express,
9 February 1906, page 1f.

"Children in the Streets" is in the Register,
15 March 1906, page 3f.

"Rescuing the Children" is in the Register,
19, 20 and 21 November 1907, pages 4c, 9c and 8c.

A lecture on "The Care of Children" is reproduced in the Advertiser,
28 August 1908, page 8d,
"The Wayward Child - How Should He be Treated" on
21 May 1909, page 10d.

"Boys and Girls - The Problem of the Streets" is in the Register,
22 March 1909, page 6e.

"Saving the Children" is in the Register,
24, 26, 27 and 30 March 1909, pages 4c-g, 7f, 8d and 9e.

"Child Mothers" is in the Register,
31 August 1909, page 6c.

"Attacks on [Children's] Liberty" is in the Register,
3 September 1909, page 4c.

"Child Life, Inebriety and the Streets" is in the Register,
4 October 1909, page 7e.
Also see Temperance & Allied Matters.

"A Reformer of Girls" is in the Observer,
20 November 1909, page 48c.

"Protection of Young Girls" is in the Advertiser,
3 September 1909, page 8g,
"Saving the Children" on
8 November 1909, page 6b; also see
26 November 1909, page 10d,
"Parents and Children" on
3 October 1910, page 8.

Information on the Adelaide Rescue Society is in the Register,
26 November 1909, page 7c.

"Protection of Little Girls" is in the Register,
16 December 1910, page 5f.

An obituary of Miss Caroline E. Clark, "a pioneer philanthropist", is in the Observer,
25 November 1911, page 41b.

"Children's Playgrounds" is in the Advertiser,
29 November 1912, page 8e,
Also see Adelaide.
"Australian Boys and Girls" on
31 January 1913, page 8d.

Photographs of the "rising generation in Adelaide" are in the Observer,
18 March 1911, page 29,
1 April 1911, page 29,
of "Physical Culture for Girls" in the Chronicle,
28 December 1912, page 30.
Also see Sport - Athletics & Gymnastics.

"Social Evils and Parental Guidance" is in the Register,
24 September 1913, page 12c.

"Neglected Children" is in the Register,
13 December 1913, page 21g.

"The Rod and the Child" is in the Register,
10 December 1914, page 6c.
Also see Education - Corporal Punishment.

Photographs of a Child Welfare Exhibition are in the The Critic,
8 November 1916, page 11,
Observer,
11 November 1916, page 26.

"Neglected or Delinquent?" is in the Register,
15 February 1917, page 4c.

"Child Welfare" is in the Register,
12 September 1917, page 6b and
16 January 1919, page 7g,
"Assaults on Children" in the Observer,
6 October 1917, page 31e.

"Boys and Reformatories" is in the Register,
22 February 1919, page 10c.
Also see Magill.

"Girls and Home Life" is in the Register on
17 December 1919, pages 6d-11f,
"Why Girls Fall [into Prostitution]" is in the Register,
26 November 1920, page 7c.
Also see Prostitution.

"Neglected Children" is in the Register,
7 September 1920, page 4g.

"The Boy Problem" is in the Advertiser,
13 November 1920, page 10f,
"Infant Welfare" on
20 September 1921, page 6h.

"Youth and the Nation" is in the Register,
22 January 1921, page 6c,
"Child Welfare" on
7 and 10 October 1922, pages 9f and 7h,
"The Rights of the Child" in the Advertiser,
12 October 1922, page 6g.

"Infant Welfare" is in the Express,
12 May 1922, page 1f.

"Unchaperoned Youth" is in the Advertiser,
18 January 1923, page 12f.

A photograph of one of children's joys, "licking the cake mix bowl", is in the Observer,
17 march 1923, page 30.

"Modern Girls - Laxity of Control Deplored" is in The Mail,
9 June 1923, page 6a.

"What Shall I Do With My Children" is in The News,
24 July 1923, page 7c.

"The Widow and the Fatherless - How the State Cares for Them" is in the Register,
4 September 1923, page 7c.

"Morals of Adelaide Girls" is in the Observer,
22 December 1923, page 46a.
"Morals of the Modern Girl" on
18 September 1930, page 52d.

"Why Bad Boys are Bad" is in the Advertiser,
3 July 1924, page 8f;
the establishment of "Boys' Week" is commented upon on
20, 21 and 24 October 1924, pages 8e, 8h and 16d,
23 and 26 October 1926, pages 12i and 14c.

The introduction of "Boy Week" is discussed in the Register,
18 and 22 October 1924, pages 8d-10c and 12g; also see
15 October 1925, page 8d,
20, 23, 25, 26, 27 and 29 October 1926, pages 8e, 9e, 10d, 10f, 11a and 13d,
22 October 1927, page 8f,
19, 24 and 29 October 1928, pages 10d, 10h and 8d.

"Delinquent Children" is in the Observer,
4 April 1925, page 48a.

"Spare the Rod" in The News,
29 December 1925, page 6g,
"Sparing the Rod is Spoiling Many Children" on
16 May 1931, page 4a.
Also see Education - Corporal Punishment.

"Dealing With Delinquent Boys" is in the Advertiser,
5 June 1925, page 13c.

"The Girl of the Period" is in the Register
on 10 April 1926, page 8f.

"Delinquent Children" is in the Register,
27 March 1925, page 11g,
21 May 1926, page 13a,
3 June 1926, page 10h.

"What Youth is Thinking" is in the Register on
3 August 1926, page 15e.

"Child Adoption" is in the Advertiser,
2 June 1926, page 12f,
"Protecting Girls" on
3 and 6 September 1926, pages 17f and 12g.

"The Modern Girl" is in the Register,
16 November 1926, page 12g:

The modern girl has so many excellent qualities that she appears rather formidable to the irresponsible male... She has invaded all classes of commercial life and except for the fact that she does not know so many funny stories is quite as capable as a male clerk.

"Protection for Children" is in the Register,
15 and 21 December 1926, pages 10g-13a and 5f.

"The Australian Girl" is in the Register,
15 December 1926, page 10h,
"The State and the Child" in the Advertiser,
3 January 1927, page 8d.

"Modern Girls Choose Own Pleasures" is in The News,
9 December 1927, page 7a.

"Outrages on Children" is in the Register,
28 March 1928, page 10d,
"The Problem of Youth" on
22 October 1928, page 14a-d.

"Child Welfare - Work of Miss D.R. Curtis" is in the Register,
22 May 1928, page 6h.

"The Delinquent Child" is in the Observer,
7 July 1928, page 21a.

"Child Feeding - Useful Puddings" is in The Mail,
7 July 1928, page 20c.

"Treatment of Delinquent Children" is in The Mail,
20 October 1928, page 16a,
"Juvenile Delinquency" in the Advertiser,
12 April 1929, page 17a,
"Reforming Delinquent Children" on
6 February 1934, page 14f.

"Child Witnesses - Value of Evidence" is in The Mail,
1 December 1928, page 2f.

"The Modern Girl" is in The News, 8 January 1929, page 8c:

Some already show a lamentable indifferene to the wishes of their parents. In fact, mothers are not consulted at all by them. They mark out their programmes and act on their own initiatives...

"Youth and Crime" is in the Register,
4 September 1930, page 6c.

"How to Treat Delinquent Children" is in The Mail,
16 July 1931, page 22h,
"Why Boys Go Wrong" on
10 October 1931, page 10d.

"Whither Modern Youth" is discussed in a series of six daily articles commencing in The News
on 11 January 1932, page 6d

"Girls Will be Typists" is in the Advertiser,
29 January 1932, page 18g.
Also see Women - Social Matters.

"Give Youth Misfits a Chance" is in The News,
25 and 27 February 1932, pages 8d and 4c,
"How to Deal With the City's Bad Boys" on
14 July 1932, page 8e.

"Modern Girl Defended" is in the Advertiser,
26 and 27 September 1932, pages 9g and 8h.

"Ambition and Hopes of the Children Outback" is in The News,
18 January 1933, page 4e.

"Attacking the Problem of the Young Offender" is in The News,
8 January 1934, page 4e.

"Youth and Occupation" is in the Advertiser,
5 February 1934, page 8e,
"Youth and Betting" on
9 October 1936, page 32c.

"Art of Being a Wise Mother of 16-Year-Old Daughters" is in The News,
13 November 1934, page 6e.

Photographs of entrants in a "Popular Child" competition are in the Chronicle,
5 and 26 July 1934, pages 34 and 38, a
"Shirley Temple" competition is announced in The News,
3 June 1935, page 8f.

"Does the Modern Girl Differ from Her Mother?" is in The News,
16 May 1936, page 4d.

"15 Days in the Life of an Adelaide Girl" is in The News,
25 July 1936, page 4d.

A discussion on children's hobbies is in The News,
6 August 1936, page 4g.

"How a Workless Youth Views the World" is in The News,
10 September 1936, page 12f.

Social Matters - Choose again