Physical description

WINLATON 1956 - 1993

• Established in 1951 with the name “Winlaton” the property was a children’s home run by the Mission of St James & St John.

• By 1953 it was acquired and ran as a state facility under the same name (Winlaton), for female offenders and for girls under protection orders - otherwise known as ‘wards of the state’.

• By the time of its closure in 1993, it was operating under the name “Nunawading Youth Residential Centre”, housing both males and females.

WINLATON YOUTH TRAINING CENTRE

By 1956, the state had constructed a purpose-built facility at Winlaton which would cater for both girls, and young women, who were under either a protection order/ward or who were female juvenile offenders. Some of the juvenile offenders were transferred to Winlaton from other facilities such as Turana, originally called the Royal Park Depot, due to overcrowding, or from convents.

With the new facilities Winlaton, supposedly, could offer a separate training, education and treatment regime for those girls or young women who had been admitted under protection orders separately to those who had been committed under a custodial order.

With this focus on training and rehabilitation the facility had 3 residential sections, or cottages. A Winlaton “trainee”, showing signs of good behaviour and progress, could be promoted up through any of the 3 cottages and likewise demoted down with bad behaviour. However, by 1957 one of the 3 cottages at Winlaton housed sentenced offenders and wards of state together.

A 4th hostel – named ‘Leawarra’ - was added in 1959 which functioned as a reward, or privilege, for residents deemed worthy. Of note, this hostel kept offenders segregated from wards of the state.

Juvenile offenders were termed as “trainees” through the Social Welfare Act 1960.

By 1985 Winlaton was restricted to only providing programs for young offenders.

CLOSURE OF WINLATON

The population of Winlaton peaked in the mid-1970s with approximately 100 “trainees” and this population then declined to approximately 25 by 1991 when it closed under the name “Winlaton”.


https://www.findingrecords.dhhs.vic.gov.au/collectionresultspage/Winlaton
https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E000192b.htm