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Mary Ann Douglas, wife of Queensland Legislative Assembly member John Douglas, founded Diamantina Orphanage in 1865. The Orphanage was named after Lady Diamantina Bowen, wife of the Queensland Governor George Bowen. She stimulated the founding of a number of charitable organisations in Queensland, including the Lady Bowen Lying-in Hospital and the Diamantina Orphanage.
The Queensland State Archives provides the following history of the Diamantina Orphanage:
'ESTABLISHMENT AND FUNCTIONS:
From 1865 children were admitted to the Diamantina Orphan School, and a Visiting Inspector and Managing Committee were appointed on 1 Feb 1866. No precise date for the opening of the orphanage has been located in any primary source.
The orphanage was charged with the care and training of children whose circumstances included death of one or both parents, abandonment by parents, or qualification as a "neglected child" under Sec. 6 of the Industrial and Reformatory School Act 1865. The Orphanages Act 1879 provided for the boarding-out, hiring-out, and apprenticing of State children, and the systematic visiting of them by members of the Ladies' Committees.
ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE:
From 1866 the Matron, teaching and other staff of the Diamantina Orphanage were employed by, and were responsible to the Managing Committee of six ladies and two visiting inspectors. An Inspector of Orphanages was appointed on 1 Apr 1875, and in 1876 responsibility for orphanages was transferred from the Colonial Secretary's Office to the Public Instruction Department. This was given legislative status under The Orphanages Act of 1879, and the Public Instruction Department, Orphanages Branch was established. Orphanages remained subject to Inspection while members of the Ladies' Committees reported on the well-being of children who were boarded-out or hired-out.
HISTORICAL NOTE:
The Diamantina Orphanage closed as an orphanage in 1893 (circa year), but the re-named Diamantina Receiving Depot continued its role of reception, care and boarding-out of children to foster homes. In Jan 1910, the Depot re-located to Wooloowin and occupied the same building as the Infants Home. On 17 Dec 1964 the Diamantina Receiving Home was renamed "Warilda" which became the Receiving and Assessment Centre for children in southern Queensland. Increasingly, by the end of the 1980s, Warilda became a centre for placement breakdown children, and on 1 Jan 1989 ceased operating as a departmental institution.'
A former resident of Diamantina Orphanage was Andrew Dawson, who served as Premier of Queensland for one week (1 to 7 December) in 1899. Dawson was placed in the Orphanage at 6 years of age, following the death of his parents. He remained in the orphanage until he was nine. Andrew was then discharged into the care of an uncle who took him to live in Gympie.
