State Government of Queensland
The Home Secretary's Office, within the new State Children Department, was created under the State Children Act 1911. The Department was established to provide care, management and control of orphaned, abandoned and convicted children and their property. The position of 'Inspector of Orphanages' became that of 'Director' of the department.The Department ran Brisbane Industrial Home, Farm Home for Boys, Westbrook, Townsville Orphanage,
Townsville Receiving Depot, Westbrook Reformatory for Boys and Diamantina Receiving Depot and Infants' Home.
Administrative Structure:
The State was divided into 3 districts: Southern District (Southern Queensland from Bundaberg to the border with NSW) with head office in Brisbane- Central District (from Mackay to Miriam Vale on the Coast and West along the central line) with a district office in Rockhampton- Northern District - (North Queensland from the north and West of Townsville) with a district Office in Townsville. Each district office and head office had an administrative and inspectorial staff.
Colonel George Andrew Ferguson was Director of the Queensland State Children's Department from the 1920s until his death in 1933.
1879 - 1911 Public Instruction Department, Orphanages Branch
1911 - 1935 Home Secretary's Office, State Children Department
1935 - 1963 Health and Home Affairs Department, State Children Department
1963 - 1966 Labour and Industry Department, State Children Department
1966 - 1987 Children's Services Department
1987 Family and Youth Services Department
1987 - 1989 Family Services Department
1989 - 1996 Family Services and Aboriginal and Islander Affairs Department
1996 - 1998 Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy
1996 Department of Family and Community Services
1996 - 2001 Department of Families, Youth and Community Care
1998 - 2001 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy and Development Department
2001 - 2006 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Department
2001 - 2004 Department of Families
2004 - 2009 Child Safety Department
2004 - 2012 Communities Department
2004 - 2012 Communities Department
2004 - 2012 Communities Department
2012 - 2015 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs Department
2012 - 2017 Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services Department
2015 - 2020 Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships
2017 - 2020 Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women
2020 - Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs, State Government of Queensland
2020 - Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships
Sources used to compile this entry: 'A Public Loss', Brisbane Courier, 24 April 1933, p. 8, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/22156072.
Prepared by: Lee Butterworth
Created: 15 December 2011, Last modified: 28 November 2014