This information is now fleshed out in greater details in my new book available from April 2024 at all good bookshops or direct from the publisher Australian Scholarly.
My Great-Grandfather (Mother’s Grandfather)
Edward Sinnett was the first of more than 30 children in my family who were placed in the “care” of the state of Victoria. Between us, we have been incarcerated in 16 different institutions in Victoria.
We can begin telling the official story with this item from the Ballarat Star (31/1/1865):
VAGRANCY. – John Edward Synnett, a little boy about eleven years of age, was charged by his step-father with vagrancy. The case was remanded for a week, in order that it might be ascertained what amount would be charged for his maintenance in the Reformatory.
Under the Neglected & Criminal Children’s Act1865, a child could be charged with neglect if their parents deemed them ‘uncontrollable’ and were willing to pay for their upkeep in an institution.
Edward is the little runaway boy mentioned in the Geelong Advertiser March 1862 three years before he was put away by his stepfather. In the book I am writing, I will have a bit to say about why Edward was running away from home.
Edward was sentenced to four years’ confinement and was sent to various reformatories including Nelson, a hulk moored near what is now Williamstown. In fact, he served five years for reasons I will explain in the book.
Edward Sinnett went on to have many children, but he was not a father to admire. His eighth child, William Francis Salvador Sinnett, was my mother’s father. He is a key figure in the family’s bleak history. His wife and children had very hard lives. I will tell the story in the book Letters to My Mother which I have been working on for several years.
My Aunt Joyce
My mother’s sister Joyce Sinnett was sent to the Ballarat Orphanage in 1926 and died there in 1933 – aged 12. It took me decades to learn that other family members were incarcerated in the Ballarat Orphanage before me.
Joyce shared a common grave with 25 other children who also died while inmates.
Recently Child & Family Services (CAFS) Ballarat did the decent thing and gave them names and dates.
Aunt Minnie
Another of my mother’s sisters, Minnie, was sent to the Ballarat Orphanage by foster parents in 1929. Having a different surname, she did not know that Joyce Sinnett was her sister. Later, Minnie was sent to the Oakleigh Reformatory for Girls which doubled as the Oakleigh Convent (pictured – but now the site of Chadstone Shopping Centre car park).
