Interior of the Womens Goal at Barambah Aboriginal Settlement (pic 1986)

Detention in the dormitory gaol is a severe form of punishment for girls deemed to have committed an offence, for example, disobeying an order from the superintendent, the settlement matron or any white official, for leaving the dormitory without permission from the matron, for leaving the settlement without a permit from the superintendent and refusing to go out to work as a domestic. Being apart from the communal conditions of the dormitory, children find detention in the gaol a lonely and terrifying experience.
The most severe and feared punishment was removal to another settlement. The very mention of Palm Island or Woorabinda evoked a sense of dread.
They seemed so far away … on the other side of the world. You would hear all sorts of stories about those places, that they would catch you and marry you to an old man.
— Ruth Hegarty, interview 1988