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Child Neglect
The Introduction of Child Welfare legislation in 1895 and 1896
In 1997, the Tasmanian government passed the Young Persons and their Families Act. Based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, it regarded children as rights-bearing individuals. Legislators saw this as the best way to protect children from actual or potential neglect and abuse. The act was passed just over one hundred years after the first child welfare acts in Tasmania, the Better Protection of and Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act (1895) and the Youthful Offenders, Destitute, and Neglected Children Act (1896). The latter enabled the state to place children, defined as neglected, into a newly established Neglected Children’s Department. Rights that they had possessed, such as to work, to occupy the streets, to habeas corpus, and to remain with their families, were reduced in order to offer them greater protection and a preparation for life that met the prevailing social norms.
These acts provide a starting point to the development of children’s rights in Tasmania. Many of their advocates were influenced by a child rescue movement prevalent in Australia, Europe, and North America. Unlike modern welfare theorists, who believe that the danger should be removed from the home, they sought to remove children from environments perceived to be dangerous or immoral. Control of children, not rights, was seen as the best way of protecting them. In addition, nineteenth century legislators wanted to control impoverished children who they feared would grow up to be a threat to the community. There was therefore a strong emphasis on control in the 1896 Act, which empowered adults who might harm children while the protection offered by the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act only slightly ameliorated its effects. This emphasis on control was central to all subsequent legislation until the 1997 Young Persons and their Families Act although the balance began to shift further towards protection with the passage of the Children’s Charter in 1918.
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – www.unicef.org/crc/crc/htm
• An Introduction to the Office of the Commissioner for Children, July 2001 – www.childcomm.tas.gov.au/aboutus/index.html
Tasmanian Child Welfare Legislation Since 1895.
• Better Protection of and Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act (1895) 59 Victoria No 10
• Youthful Offenders, Destitute and Neglected Children Act (1896) 60 Victoria No 24
• Children's Charter (1918) 9 George V No 15
• Infants Welfare Act (1935) 26 George V No 96
• Child Welfare Act (1960)
The Speech of the President, Annie Blair, to the Fourth Annual Convention of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, 1896
The influence of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union on the Youthful Offenders, Destitute and Neglected Children Act is evident from its emphasis on alcohol use and sexual morality in determining child neglect.
Reference: NS 337/5
Newspaper Coverage
The Tasmanian News on Street Children, 1895
Much of the momentum for the 1895 Neglected Children’s Bill developed from a campaign by the small ‘l’ liberal Tasmanian News, edited by Sara Gill. The series argued that street children, especially girls, the victims of ‘bad companions’ and lax or alcoholic parents, usually mothers, posed a fundamental risk to society. The following article is one of a series written by its ‘special reporter’, and published by the paper. The following is an extract from the first article (30 August 1895). The others are available in the State Library of Tasmania. Some references are: 31 August 1895, 2 September 1895, 4 September 1895, 6 September 1895, 7 September 1895, 9 September 1895, 10 September 1895, 13 September 1895.
The Clipper’s Response to the Tasmanian News Series, 1895
Unlike the Tasmanian News, the Clipper, a labour paper, believed that street children were the victims of poverty, not the immorality of their parents. The following article is one of several that it published (7 September 1895). The rest are available in the State Library of Tasmania. Some references are: 28 September 1895, 19 October 1895, 5 September 1896.
The Mercury’s Response to the Tasmanian News Series
The Mercury did not play much part in the campaign. Its main concern was that the legislation would interfere with children’s ability to earn a living or look after their siblings while the parents did so.
Reference: Mercury, 27 September 1895
Parliamentary Debates
Parliamentary Debate on the Neglected Children’s Bill, 1895
Clark introduced the 1895 ‘Neglected Children’s Bill’ into the Legislative Assembly on 26 September 1895 where concerns were expressed at the erosion of parents’ and children’s rights to stay together. It was felt that the newspaper campaign that preceded the bill exaggerated the problem of street children. According to the Legislative Council, Clark had copied the act verbatim from the Victorian 1890 Neglected Children’s Act, so that it was poorly adapted to Tasmanian conditions and in conflict with some legislation. They rejected it on those grounds. The following are extracts from the Mercury’s report of the debates.
References: Mercury, 27 September 1895, 12 October 1895, 16 October 1895
Parliamentary Debate on the Youthful Offenders and Neglected Children’s Bill, 1896
F. W. Piesse, a member of the Tasmanian Temperance Alliance, drafted the ‘Youthful Offenders and neglected Children’s Bill’, which the chief secretary, William Moore, introduced into the Legislative Council on 22 July 1896. Piesse emphasised that the legislation was not philanthropic, but designed to protect the state from street children who, as potential criminals and paupers, would eventually be an expense to the government. A number of Legislative Councillors were worried about the infringement of civil liberties. Even so, both houses passed it.
References: Mercury, 26 September 1896, 23 July 1896, 19 August 1896, 20 August 1896, 22 August 1896, 26 August 1896, 3 September 1896
Photographs
• F. R. Seager, the first secretary of the Neglected Children’s Department.
Reference: Tasmanian Mail, Centenary Number, February 1904, p. 51.
• Sergeant Major William Welsh, who was appointed Launceston’s Inquiring Officer for the boarded-out children in 1898.
Reference: Tasmanian Mail, 16 November 1907, p. 22.
• The New Town Charitable Institution, site of the offices of the Neglected Children’s Department between 1896 and 1911.
Reference: AOT 30/7641
Bibliography
• Stefan Petrow, ‘Arabs, Boys and Larrikins: Juvenile Delinquents and their Treatment in Hobart, 1860-1896’, Australian Journal of Legal History, No. 59, 1996.
• Stefan Petrow, ‘Better than the Streets: Juvenile Industrial Schools and Reformatories in Tasmania, 1860-1896’, International Forum on Education in Penal Systems: What Works for Whom in Corrections? Policies, Practices and Practicalities: Conference Proceedings, Hobart 1995.
• Margaret Barbalet, Far From a Low Gutter Girl: The Forgotten World of State Wards in South Australia, 1887-1940, Melbourne, 1983.
• Jan Kociumbas, Australian Childhood: A History, Sydney, 1997.
• Shurlee Swain and Dorothy Scott, Confronting Cruelty: Disposal, Punishment and Survival in Australia, Melbourne, 1995.
• Robert van Krieken, Children and the State: Social Control and the Formation of Australian Child Welfare, Sydney, 1991.
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