Hay Institution for Girls was a brutal maximum-security institution for girls – a place of cruel and extreme punishment for the teenage girls who would not comply with the strict routine of Parramatta Girls Home. They were subjected to a militaristic regime of State-sanctioned harsh discipline and hard labor designed to crush their spirits through brainwashing and programming.

Girls were sent to Hay Institution for ‘a period of training’ after so-called misbehavior at Parramatta Girls’ Home; misbehavior meaning repeated insolence or disobeying any kind of order. Girls who failed to settle into the routine of Parramatta Girls Home were also transferred to Hay.

Typically, the teenage girls sent to Parramatta and Hay had NOT committed a criminal offence – they were simply the lost and forgotten children of Australia’s welfare system. In fact, each was subjected to the barbaric and inhumane treatment at Hay as punishment for committing the offence of disruptive behaviour at Parramatta Girls Home.

Sharyn Killens was transferred to Hay Girls Institution in August 1965. Again, she had committed NO crime.

In 2009, ABC TV 7.30 Report aired a story about the abuse of children in Institutions during the 60s, 70s and 80s in Australia and featured Sharyn and Lindsay telling Sharyn’s story, as she revisited the horror of those times. It is a very hard hitting and emotional piece to watch.