| Boys' Town | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Engadine, New South Wales, Australia |
Boys' Town is a residential school located in the suburb of Engadine in Sydney, Australia for boys with identified behavioural issues.
Boys' Town provides a voluntary service for families at risk of family breakdown, who are committed to improving their relationships. Boys' Town provides intensive life skills, therapeutic and educational services in an out of home care setting.
Contents |
Fr Thomas Dunlea (1894–1970), originally founded Boys' Town (a residential school) in 1939, to help the disadvantaged youth of Sydney, Australia.[1] His inspiration was the movie Boystown, about Fr Edward J. Flanagan, who founded the original Boystown in Nebraska, USA.
Fr Dunlea was involved (from the 1940s) with Alcoholics Anonymous.
Boys' Town is run by the Salesians of Don Bosco - a Roman Catholic Religious Order.
In 1978 there was a total of 135 students (mostly 'boarders', with a small percentage of 'day' students) at Boys' Town. By 1989 the number of boys at Boys' Town had dropped to 40, with each boy having his own room.
The Salesian clergy at Boys' Town are no longer involved with teaching or dormitory supervision of the boys. This is done by trained social workers.
Fr Chris Riley, AM - founder of Youth Off the Streets
Fr Dennis Halliday - awarded a PhD posthumously by the Australian Catholic University for his thesis 'The strategic use of the wellness model in adolescent residential centres : implications for partnership between parents and the centres' in relation to his work with Boys' Town.