Full of passive resistance? The employment of female state children in Queensland 1865-1911

Shirleene Robinson

Abstract

Extract:

This paper examines the employment of European state children in Queensland in the period between the passage of the Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act 1865 and the State Children's Act 1911. Throughout this period, female state children were sent out to isolated employment positions with very little training. In many cases, these children were too physically immature to perform the demanding domestic service tasks requested of them. As a result, many of these young female workers engaged in strategies of resistance against their employers.