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.