Raymond John Fradd 1909

Raymond John Fradd was born on the 9th of April 1909  in Broken Hill, New South Wales to Francis Frank and Stella A Fradd [nee Unknown]. It is suspected that he is a half-brother to Chester Douglas Fradd. Both boys were committed to the Mittagong Farm Home For Boys on the 23rd of March 1919.Raymond or "Jack" as he was known was 9 years old and Chester was 12.

N.S.W. State Records.

On the 5^th of June 1906 in accordance with the provisions of the Neglected Children and Juvenile Offenders Act 1905,  the Farm Home for Boys at Mittagong was proclaimed an Industrial School. Mittagong Farm Home For Boys was a 500-acre property opened on the 17^th of October 1906 as a government-run Probationary Training Home for boys aged 8 to 17 who were convicted in the Children's Courts of less serious offences including truanting, being uncontrollable, being neglected and wandering, breaching probation, stealing, and breaking and entering. 81 boys were admitted in the first six months.

The Home was situated on land already used as cottage style accommodation for state children who were sick or invalid. No-one who ended up at the Mittagong Farm Home, ended up there by choice. It was a place where children were sent to live because of different circumstances.

Over the years, the homes accommodated children from various walks of life, including orphans, state wards, mentally challenged and ill children. Some were taken away from their parents for their own wellbeing while others were sent to the homes because they were truants or were in trouble with the law. Some came from broken families where the father had left and the mother was trying to raise five or six children on her own.

 



Mittagong Boys Home Cottage c 1910

There was no dole or child endowment and no money from the fathers - so mothers would send some or all of their children to the homes, so that she could go out to make a living; knowing that her children would be guaranteed food, clothing and shelter- which was something many struggling mothers could not do for their children if they didn’t let them go. Displaced children were sent from orphanages in Sydney to live in private cottage homes in the Mittagong area from about 1881.The struggle for individual families to feed the additional children in their homes saw the State Government of the time lease a portion of land from about 1885 with the intention was to grow food on the property which already had several buildings on it and an orchard. More buildings were established and homeless men from the city were sent down to live there and work the land. They produced enough food to support children in homes both in Sydney and Mittagong.

The government decided to buy the site in 1907 with children accommodated in farm homes on the property and in cottage homes in the Mittagong community.The boys were in the charge of an attendant and matron (usually a married couple). Boys under 14 (and older boys with a low standard of education) attended nearby lower Mittagong Public School. The older boys, under the supervision of the attendant worked on the Farm lands adjacent to the Home cultivating fruit and vegetables, dairying and raising poultry. Most boys stayed at Mittagong for short periods. The average stay at the institution was four to five months. Boys who were responsive to the program at Mittagong were released on probation to a relative, boarded-out or apprenticed out,  and those who showed no evidence of reform were sent to the Farm Home for Boys at Gosford.  In July 1911, 34 boys were transferred to the Home from the Nautical School-Ship the "Sobraon" which ceased operations. The Mittagong Home was divided into cottages with 20 - 30 boys to each cottage. Turner Cottage was set aside for truants. In 1944 Anglewood Special School, Burradoo was established to assist with housing the increasing number of male truants.

After May 1946, Anglewood was able to accommodate all truant boys. Special educational programs were provided for intellectually disabled residents.From 1946 the Institution was sometimes called the Mittagong Training School for Boys; and from 1947 the latter name was used uniformly. On 23 August 1974 a new cottage for younger boys was opened, enabling a maximum population of 180 boys. The Mittagong Training School for Boys was gradually phased out as a Home for Delinquent Boys. On 30 June 1976 only 33 boys were in residence. In August 1976 the Institution ceased to operate as a Training Centre and the remaining boys were transferred to Ormond House, Thornleigh. Subsequently Mittagong Training School for Boys was established as a home for dependent children and became part of the newly named centre, Renwick.

Bibliography: http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/

Jack married Beryl Constance Lawrence on the 23^rd of January 1932 in West Maitland, New South Wales, Australia.  They had three children. He died on the 07^th of August 1971 in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.