Daruk Boy’s Home/Daruk Training Centre
Daruk was established at South Windsor, NSW in 1960 by the Department of Community Services as an annexe to Mount Penang Training School for Boys (Gosford Farm Home). It was a training school for juvenile offenders who were of school age. Some children who were committed to institutions in the Australian Capital Territory were sent to Daruk. The institutions closed in early 1985.
During the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, shocking evidence was revealed that up to 80 boys who were placed at the institution between 1965 to 1985 were sexually and physically abused by at least 25 ex-staff members over that period. The abuse was so gruesome in some cases. For example, some boys as young as 13 had their genitals mutilated. The systematic abuse that occurred at the Home led the NSW Government and the NSW Police Force in 2016 to create Strike Force Eckersley following referrals from the Royal Commission. The strike force’s investigations have since then led to numerous criminal convictions of various perpetrators for offences including indecent assault and buggery of 12 and 13-year-old boys.
Moody Law is currently representing a client who has made allegations of being sexually and physically abused when he was placed at the institution by the State of New South Wales.
We invite former wards and inmates of the Home to contact us to tell us confidentially what information they may have, and we will explain what options are available to help with these cases.
Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.