The Rotary Club’s support for young people caught up in the ACT Youth Justice system
A brief history prepared by Harold Small – 4 November 2026
The keynote speaker at the 1998 Rotary District Conference was former Children’s Magistrate Barbara Holborough. She gave a very stirring presentation on youth at risk which prompted Harold to investigate what he and the Rotary Club might be able to do as a response.
Harold was on the Board of Canberra East Club at the time, and was involved in prison ministry at the Goulburn and Junee jails. This led him to the Quamby Youth Detention Centre, in Symonston ACT. There he discovered an existing Rotary connection as one of his Rotary club members had donated irrigation equipment a few years earlier as part of a permaculture project. That project didn’t appeal to Harold as he wanted something that would be easier to implement and would be on-going. Subsequently at a club board meeting one member suggested “Why don’t you give the detainees an award!” That idea was put to the Quamby management who enthusiastically accepted the idea.
After the details were decided, the program called the Rotary Youth Award commenced in the Quamby Juvenile Justice Centre with the first presentation of a certificate and a monetary gift to a detainee on 3 March 1999.
There after at Quamby (until it closed in 2008) a Rotary Youth Award was given each month to one of the young detainees. The recipient was chosen by the teaching staff with selection based on behaviour, attitude, cooperation and program participation. It was not a competition but an encouragement for each young person to do better. The award comprised a certificate and a monetary gift.
During the visit by Rotary members to Quamby there was an opportunity to mingle with the detainees and to play table tennis and other games with them. On occasions the Rotary Club would have a meeting in the jail hosting a BBQ and at Christmas they were able to bring gifts into the jail. Genevieve Power and Harold’s wife Christine did the shopping for tee shirts and other Christmasy gifts. It was a fairly relaxed jail environment one might say.
That arrangement continued until December 2008 when the jail was relocated to the Bimberi Juvenile Justice Centre, in Kenny ACT. After a delay while negotiations for resuming the award at Bimberi were sorted out, presentations of awards to detainees recommenced in June 2009.
There were some significant changes with the move to Bimberi. Most notable was security which at the start required ID checks on entry which now seem to be more relaxed. Close mixing with the detainees, Club BBQs and Christmas celebrations are no longer possible.
The Murrumbidgee School within Bimberi is a formal school within the ACT Education Directorate with ACT teachers and is part of a broader special needs group. This new environment suited awards at an “end of term” assembly. to fit in with the handing out of school results, rather than the previous monthly awards.
In June 2009, the Rotary Club began, at the end of each school term in Bimberi, to give up to two Rotary Youth Awards to students selected by the school's education staff. Selection is based on the student’s personal efforts in scholarship and showing respect to students and staff. The award is designed to provided a real benefit to those incarcerated giving them an incentive to “do better”. It comprises a certificate (to be placed in the recipient’s portfolio of achievements) and a gift of $100. The Award is presented to the recipient by a Rotary Club member at the end-of-term assembly.
In 2016 the head teacher, Steve Collins, was very active in his endeavours to encourage the young people in Bimberi. He believed that an important part of the education program should include respect – respect for peers, teachers and staff. He introduced a program where every detainee was given a rating during the term which allowed them to progress up a reward scale gaining points along the way. He asked if this idea could be reflected on our certificate. The award criteria was amended and called the Rotary Youth Respect Award.
Another highlight was the establishment of the Rotary Chicken Coop at Bimberi. The eggs collected were used in the kitchen with any surplus being sold to the staff. The money raised was given to the Rotary Club who in turn passed it on to the Early Morning Centre supporting homeless people. A cycle of “doing good” that was greeted with much enthusiasm by all. Sadly, with changes of staff at Bimberi and only two chickens left this initiative has fallen by the wayside.
With the arrival of COVID in 2020 followed by the amalgamation of Canberra East and Woden Rotary Clubs to form the Murrumbidgee Canberra Club there was a significant interruption in the Bimberi awards program. The presentation to the new Murrumbidgee Canberra Rotary Club award resumed in June 2023 and was met with enthusiasm.
The Rotary Youth Respect Award was always intended to be expanded if possible. When we learned that the Education Directorate had established a Transition Program to support and assist young people who have been released from Bimberi to rejoin their community, a proposal was put to the Rotary Club for a similar award to those in the transition program but with a greater monetary component.
The Rotary Community Award commenced in 2025 as part of the transition program. The Club gives up to five Rotary Community Awards each year. The Transition Program officers nominate those who have excelled in their endeavours through school, training and/or work to be active contributors to their community while establishing their rightful place in society and are thus considered worthy of the award. The award comprises a certificate and a gift of $200.
The Rotary awards have always been and still are a highlight presentation. It is reported that often an individuals will consciously set out to win the next award.
The Rotary Club personal closely involved in the youth justice awards program include Harold Small throughout assisted, over the years, by Tim Sciberras and Marianne Keet (both from Canberra East) and currently John Jedryk (from Murrumbidgee Canberra).
