Mount Penang Training School for Boys

Mount Penang Training School for Boys, or Mt Penang Training Centre, was established by in 1946 by the Child Welfare Department. It was situated at Kariong, near Gosford, NSW. It was a reformatory for boys convicted of offences or had been difficult to manage in other institutions run by the Child Welfare Department. Mount Penang was predominately for older boys, aged 14 to 16 years of age. In 1959 it held 380 boys. It was officially renamed the Mount Penang Detention Centre in 1988.

Mount Penang was well known for its harsh disciplinary regime where the Child Welfare Department based it on the following:

'An inmate of Mt. Penang is exposed to a regulated, demanding program from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. In the course of each day therefore, he is brought into contact with varying influences, depending on his location, which have a decided impact on his attitude, behaviour, and character.'

Boys who did not comply with this regime, or committed offences within Mount Penang, were sent to an annexe named Daruk or to Tamworth Institution for Boys (later named Endeavour House in 1976). In reality, all three institutions had very little impact in reforming young boys. Rather, all have been described by former inmates as a 'school for killers' or a ‘jail’. Boys who were sent there, often headed into lives of violent crime after they left Mt Penang and its associated institutions. Although Mount Penang was not as brutal as Daruk or Tamworth Institution for Boys (Endeavour House), it too had a reputation for creating criminals rather than reforming boys who were placed there.

Mt Penang has also been involved in allegations of sexual and physical abuse by former staff and inmates. Numerous former inmates have made submissions to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in relation to being physically and sexually abused while they were placed there by the State of New South Wales.

Moody Law has represented in the past and is currently representing a number of clients against the State of New South Wales in relation to allegations of sexual and physical abuse when they were placed at Mt Penang by the NSW Government.

We invite former inmates and victims 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.