No. 1648 - Glenorchy - Boys' Town - The Three Chapels (1945-1956)

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Boys' Town (also known as St John Bosco Boys’ Town) was a residential care home and school for boys at Glenorchy. Operating from 1945 to 1956, it housed orphans, at-risk youth, and British child migrants. Due to changing child welfare needs and government policies, Boys' Town ceased operating as a residential home. In 1956 it became Savio College, a Catholic secondary school. In 1973 Dominic College was established as Tasmania’s first co-educational Catholic college, formed from amalgamating St John's Primary; Savio Primary; Holy Name School and Savio College.

Boys’ Town was initially run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. In 1946 it was taken over by by the Salesians of Don Bosco, a Catholic order focused on disadvantaged youth. The facility was officially opened by Archbishop Tweedy on 13 May 1945. In January 1947, a school opened on the site.

During the Boys’ Town era (1945-1957), three chapels were established on the Glenorchy precinct. The first chapel was housed within “Grantleigh”, a large house on an estate once owned by Alfred Sawyer, an orchardist and local politician. The chapel was was located on the ground floor of the house, also known as the “White House”, because of its high white walls and gabled roof. The building now accommodates the business administration of Dominic College.

With the conclusion of the Second World War surplus army huts were purchased for use as student accomodation and the second chapel was incorporated within one of the “huts”. The third chapel was housed in the new school building which was officially opened on 4 November 1951. This chapel is now used as classroom at Dominic College.

A fourth chapel, built at Savio College in 1957, will be the subject of a future article on ‘churches of Tasmania.

The first chapel, 1945-6 prior to the arrival of the Salesians, was inside Grantleigh House to the left of the entrance. Source: Facebook - Dominic College - posted 14 April 2017

 The second chapel (1946-1951) was set up in a hut attached to the back of Grantleigh.
Source: Facebook Dominic College - posted 9 April 2020


The third chapel at Dominic College was in the Boys' Town Building opened in 1951. 
Source: Facebook Dominic College - posted on 30 March 2018


A recent photograph of Grantleigh House


Sources:

Mercury, Monday 17 December 1945, page 2
Mercury, Friday 29 July 1949, page 4
Examiner, Monday 5 November 1951, page 3

Fox, Basil; History of Savio College, 1975, unpublished notes.

Lee, Joseph (Fr), Each honest worker: the Salesians of Don Bosco in the State of Tasmania 1946–1997. 

Verrier, Cecily; From Tiny Potatoes: A Great Parish Grew, (booklet) EMS & ENS Printing, Hobart, 1999.

https://www.dominic.tas.edu.au/home/our-history

https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/entity/boys-town-2/

https://www.facebook.com/DominicCollege/





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