Some areas still cater mostly for boys but others, such as the domestic violence refuge, were almost solely for women and their children. Between 60 and 70 per cent of Kids Helpline callers were young women or girls. Tracy Adams, the charity's chief executive officer for the past eight years, said that meant the name needed to change to better reflect what the organisation did. "It's really come about because things like accessibility and relevance are really important for us," she said. "We felt that despite making a number of changes to the brand over recent years there was still a bit of a perception in recent years, the name being quite gender specific, BoysTown, meant that we didn't work for some girls or indeed young women and that's just not the case."

The businesswoman, who started at the charity 26 years ago as a casual for two days and ended up working her way to the top, said the change had nothing to do with child abuse allegations at BoysTown Beaudesert dating back decades, when the charity was run by the De La Salle Brothers. "I don't think it hangs over us today," she said. "I think it's certainly an issue when it came about and it's still running. "We've never stepped away from it. It's a matter that the De La Salle brothers are very involved with. "Our priority as it's always been (is) to do whatever we can to be part of the process, the investigation process that's ongoing.

"It's certainly not about us not wanting to be part of that but the issues, as they are, are very much part of the De La Salle brothers." Lawyer Jason Parkinson is representing more than 250 boys from Boystown Beaudesert, which closed in 2001, in sexual abuse claims. He said it was "about time" the organisation changed its name to remove the reference to a place where boys were allegedly "sexually abused and bashed repeatedly over a 30-year period". A De La Salle Brothers spokesman said the organisation would continue to cooperate with any investigations and reiterated an apology to victims. Former De La Salle Provincial Brother Ambrose Payne remained chair of the Yourtown board but both organisations stressed they were entirely separate entities with stand alone governance structures.

Ms Adams said the charity of today was a completely different organisation and she was proud to still be working at the same place after more than a quarter of a century. Last year she had the chance to deliver the good news to the winner of the organisation's Christmas prize home, a woman who'd lived in state housing her whole life. "There's any number of what I would call really special moments," she said. "For me personally as CEO, I think being in a leadership position of an organisation of people who really are wanting to make a difference and every day strive to do that is something I'm really proud of." Don't miss important news stories. Like us on Facebook.