The Diamantina Receiving Depot and Infants’ Home, in Wooloowin, was the new name given to the Diamantina Orphanage when it moved from Sandgate in January, 1910. It was run by the government. The Home was renamed the Diamantina Receiving Home in 1962 (in recognition of the charitable work of Lady Diamantina Roma, the wife of Queensland’s first Governor, Sir George Bowen).
In October 1909 the “Rowallan” property at 84 Kedron Park Road, Wooloowin, vacated by the Boys’ Home, Wooloowin in 1906, was purchased by the State Government from Dr Joseph Smith Clowes of Albion, as the new site for the Diamantina Receiving Depot and Infants’ Home.
The Diamantina home moved from Sandgate to the new premises at Wooloowin in January 1910. There is no description of the building when it was occupied by the Boys’ Home. At the time of purchase by the Government it was described as a large house with 14 rooms on 4 acres 30 perches.
The 1999 report of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions stated that the move from Wooloowin in 1910 coincided with a change in function to a receiving depot, where children awaited placement in a foster home (p.34).
One witness to the inquiry who was a resident in the 1930s described feelings of alienation: “You were just a number on the book, or somebody’s name on their books. But as far as a person goes, I could have been some dog that wandered in off the street (p.78).”
The name of the facility was changed to Warilda in 1964 and the original building existed until the mid 1960s.
From
1910
To
1962
Alternative Names
Wooloowin State Childrens' Home
January 1910 - January 1962
Diamantina Receiving Depot and Infants' Home was situated at 84 Kedron Park Road, Wooloowin, Queensland (Building Demolished)
Previous
Subsequent
