Frank Vetter, Pushbikes and the Magill Reformatory School
When Frank Vetter finished school in
December 1929 he was 13 years old. He
had obtained his Qualifying Certificate[i]
at Norwood Central School, in the suburbs of Adelaide. The certificate was given to all children who
had completed 7 years of schooling. It
was now going to be a life of work, most likely with his father Theodore, who
was a contractor builder, doing odd pieces of work where he could during this
time of the Great Depression. Frank
lived with his family in Queen Street, Norwood, about 10 mins walk from school,
which he had attended with both his older and younger sisters.
As the summer period of early 1930 ended
Frank decided to leave home. The family
had now moved to Kirkcaldy Road in the western suburbs of Adelaide. He did not get on well with his father, and
most certainly did not want to work with him or for him, and he knew he could
not stay there any longer. On March 11th Frank was in Norwood and as
he was walking through the school grounds he saw a pushbike that belonged to a
Kenneth Usher. Here was an opportunity
to get away. Frank took the bike and
peddled 15 kilometres to the sand hills near Glenelg, and here Frank lived for
the next 6 weeks.
How Frank survived in the sand hills we do
not know but in the third week of April Frank was met by Constables Shipway and
Trotman who promptly took Frank and Mr. Usher’s bike to Brighton Police
station. Frank was fined 10 shillings,
but as he had no money, and there appeared to be no interest from his parents,
Frank was sent to the Boy’s Reformatory School at Magill on April 24th,
1930 for 3 days.
Magill
Reformatory School [ii]
On Monday the 28th Frank left
the reformatory school and returned to his parents place on Kirkcaldy road. But
the urge to be on the move was too strong, and by the following Friday, Frank
found himself in the yard of Millie Priscilla Host, who lived in East Avenue,
Forrestville, a suburb nearer the city centre, than Kirkcaldy. Here Frank decided to take another
pushbike. Millie’s bike was of better
quality than Kenneth Usher’s. It was of
black enamel, though worn, with “Major Taylor” handlebars, rat-trap pedals, a
Bates tyre on the front, and an ordinary grey tyre on the rear, steel rims, an
Onward saddle, and mudguards on both wheels.
It was valued at £4.
On the night of Wednesday the 7th
of May 1930, Sergeant Kroemer and Constable Walker of the Brighton Police
station came across Frank and a new mate, 18 year old Charlie Lockyer in the
sand hills. Unfortunately for Charlie he
was not aware that the pushbike lying beside their campfire was not Frank’s and
was probably bit surprised when the two policemen arrested him and Frank for
larceny. The next day both Frank and
Charlie appeared before Magistrates Fisk and Paterson at the local Courthouse
at Glenelg. Here Sergeant Kroemer
detailed how the pushbike had been taken from washhouse of Mrs. Host’s home,
and also how this was young Frank’s second time of removing bikes that did not
belong to him. Charlie was released and
all charges against him were dismissed.
Sergeant Kroemer’s prosecution was good and Frank was ordered to be sent
back to the Magill Reformatory until he obtained the age of 18 years.
He was 13 years and 6 months old.
Frank’s time at the school had seemed to be
going on okay. In June 1931 he had been
granted a probationary vacation to visit his parents but he decided that he
would be better making his own way. So
on the 11th of that month while under the care of one of the
attendants, he decided he would go off for a month but not to visit his
parents. He dually returned to the
school the following month, having spent time living on the streets.
In July 1932 Frank was given another opportunity to go
home to his parents, but again he informed the School that he would rather stay
there than go home as he said his father was bad tempered.
In December 1932 another opportunity
happened. Frank along with a few other
boys were required to do daily chores in the washhouse under the supervision of
Mr. Gore. The work had all been
completed on the afternoon of the 6th, and Mr. Gore told the boys to
move into the playroom as he led the way.
Unfortunately Frank saw an opportunity to leave Magill, and he quickly
did so. Before Mr. Gore realized that he
should have followed the boys than lead them Frank was no longer anywhere to be
seen. Mr. Gore’s actions were reported to
the head of the Children’s Welfare Dept. in Adelaide.
Frank quickly made his way towards the one
area he knew best, Glenelg sand hills. And how does one do this? By
pushbike! Frank had made his way through
the city onto Torrensville where in Ashley street he came across Gordon Black’s
dark-green enameled bike with it’s nice new Dunlop red tyres, though not as
valuable as Mrs. Host’s. The Christmas
of 1932 was spent in the sand hills, Frank had a new pushbike, he may still be
wearing the clothes he had on when he left Magill, moleskin trousers, a blue
shirt and sandshoes, but what else did he need?
On the morning of January 7th,
1933 Frank met 4 more members of the Police force. Detectives Walters and Miller, and Constables
Curtis and Leare came across Frank in the sand hills and promptly arrested
him. He was taken straight to the
Children’s Court in the city, and there held for two days before facing
Magistrate W. Hall. Frank admitted to
the judge that he had taken the bike, but after all it was just sitting in the
street by itself when Frank came across it.
Mr. Hall sent Frank back to Magill for another 2 years, and the bike
back to Mr. Black.
Charles Arnold who was the Superintendent
at Magill, had made many notes about Frank suffering from flat feet, and how
this affected his inclusion in work details and also in participating in sport
activities. Mr. Arnold asked the
Children’s Welfare department if Frank could go to see Dr. Betts at his offices
in North Terrace in the city, who would be able to make a judgment if an
operation on Frank’s feet would be of any benefit. Frank visited the doctor on May 12th
and the doctor suggested an operation be conducted. Frank was asked if he wanted to have the
operation and he agreed, in fact he was anxious for it to happen. On the 28th of May Frank entered
the Royal Adelaide hospital and an operation for Spasmodic flat feet was
performed. However when Frank was
released on one of the hospital visits he did not want to use the public
transport to return to the Reformatory, so he again borrowed a pushbike to make
the trip. Mr. Arnold was not very happy
with this and again spoke with Frank how this type of conduct was not helping
Frank’s opportunities when leaving Magill.
In June 1933 there was a fire at the Magill
Reformatory. It was the afternoon and
the boys had been on the football oval in the grounds of the school. One of the boys who had not attended was a
Alfred Del Grandie. Del Grandie was 17,
and was due for release soon but he had fallen foul a number of times with the
staff, and had been confined to the detention cells for a month. He decided that he wanted out and the way to
do this was to light a fire in his cell.
The first person to become aware of the fire was Frank. Frank quickly ran to one of the windows and
yelled out to Mr. Threadgrill, a temporary attendant, that Del Grandie’s cell
was on fire. Del Grandie was quickly
released and the fire extinguished by the boys performing a bucket chain from
the water pump.
The fire was to be investigated by an
internal department investigation, but Del Grandie now accused a number of the
staff at the Reformatory of plotting against him, and an official inquest was
now required to be held by Magistrates in Adelaide court. The inquest would go on for over two months,
with Del Grandie attending along with a number of other boys who were to give
evidence.
Frank was one of these boys, but the most
important as his warning had saved the Reformatory school from extensive damage. He was named and described in the Adelaide
newspapers as he entered court, “a lame lad called Frank Vetter.” [iii]
Obviously Frank’s operation for his flat
feet had not been entirely successful. Frank
was asked a number of questions about his time at the Reformatory. He was asked about the meals, whether the
boys were allowed second helpings. Then
there were a couple of questions, which highlighted more about Frank’s family
than his life at the Reformatory.
“Were you allowed to go home on probation
in June 1931? – Yes, but I did not go.”
“You preferred to stay at the Reformatory?
– Yes, I do not get on very well with my father.”
The Magistrate then asked Frank if he wrote
to anyone, “No, but most of the other boys do.”
“Do your people visit you? – No. Del
Grandie is not visited either, but most of the other boys are.”
Del Grandie was found guilty, and sent to
an adult prison. Frank returned to Magill.
By late 1933 Frank was now a “Trust” boy in
the school, and was taking on tasks and jobs that required some
responsibility. At the beginning of
December, the Secretary of the Children’s Welfare Dept., in Adelaide asked for
a report on him so that Frank’s case could be discussed at the next Board
meeting. Frank still did not want to
return to the home of his parents, and Mr. Arnold stated that finding him a
home and work was not going to be easy.
Mr. Arnold stated that although now a senior, Frank was reluctant to
join classes “designed for moral
improvement.” Mr. Arnold also
believed that Frank was aware of “certain
untoward plotting” within the school, but that he did not want to give any
details to Mr. Arnold. Frank was not going to inform on his mates. Frank also told
Mr. Arnold he wanted to be a hairdresser.
On the night of January 25th,
1934 Frank was sent out to move the sprinklers in the garden. He never came back. Mr. Evans, who was in charge that night,
informed the police. No pushbikes were
reported stolen that night.
Frank was 17 years and 3 months old.
[i] “The
Qualifying Certificate marked the completion of primary school. Students were
examined in English, Mathematics, History and Geography up to Grade VII
standard.” Centre for
Studies in Literacy, Policy and Learning Cultures University of South
Australia.
[ii]
http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/72250/B72111_79.htm
[iii] News (Adelaide Newspaper) August 9, 1933
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