William Robert Black (1859–1930) was an Australian mine-owner and philanthropist. He donated to establish many

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

churches and supported schools, orphanages and other charitable institutions in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Biography

On 20 November 1922, the

Queensland Governor The governor of Queensland is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the state of Queensland. In an analogous way to the governor-general at the national level, the governor performs constitutional and ceremonial func ...

Matthew Nathan Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Matthew Nathan (3 January 1862 – 18 April 1939) was a British soldier and colonial administrator, who variously served as the governor of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Queensland. He was Under-Secre ...

officially opened the Industrial School for Boys on a site between Moggill Road and Jerrang Road (now 724 Moggill Road, ) at Indooroopilly (now Chapel Hill). It was operated by the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

for orphaned, abandoned and neglected boys. The site was purchased for £2300 by Black and donated to the Salvation Army, He also paid £2700 to extend and renovate the buildings on site and for new furnishings. He also provided for £100 per annum for maintenance. When it opened, there were 35 boys under the supervision of the first superintendent, Ensign Rogan. The school could provide accommodation for 50 boys supervised by nine staff. In 1942 the school relocated to Washpool. As at 2021, the site is still owned by the Salvation Army but is reduced to and is used to operate The Cairns Aged Care Centre.

Beneficiaries

Black made substantial donations to a number of institutions, including:

Churches

* the Presbyterian Church at

Burleigh Heads Burleigh Heads is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Burleigh Heads had a population of 10,572 people. Geography Burleigh Head is a cape () jutting into the Coral Sea at the northern mouth of Tallebud ...

* the Presbyterian Church at Cannon Hill *the Presbyterian Church at Enoggera *the Presbyterian Church in

Maleny Maleny (pronounced ''muh-LAY-knee'') is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. Maleny was a timber town until the early 1920s and then was a centre of dairy production ...

*the War Memorial stained glass window at St Andrew's Presbyterian (now Uniting) Church in the

Brisbane CBD Brisbane City is the central Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is also colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD", "the city", or simply "to ...

Education

Scots PGC College The Scots PGC College is an independent, co-educational, Uniting Church, day and boarding school, located in Warwick, Queensland, Australia. The College currently caters for approximately 450 international and Australian students from Prep to ...

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

Fairholme College Fairholme College is an independent, day and boarding school for girls, located in Toowoomba, one of Australia's largest provincial cities, in South East Queensland, Australia. Established as Spreydon College in 1908 by sisters Elizabeth, Jess ...

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

* Blackheath College in

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits und ...

Emmanuel College, University of Queensland Emmanuel College (commonly called EMC) is the largest residential college of Australia's University of Queensland, located on its St Lucia campus. Affiliated with the Uniting Church, it provides co-educational accommodation, academic and well ...

Children's homes

*W. R. Black Children's Home at Chelmer *Blackheath Home for Children at Oxley *Salvation Army's Industrial School for Boys at Indooroopilly (now Chapel Hill)

Other institutions

Gold Coast Hospital Gold Coast Hospital, located at 98–136 Nerang Street, Southport was, from 1960 to 2013 a major teaching and Tertiary referral hospital and the third largest in Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and te ...

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

Canberra Hotel The Canberra Hotel was a temperance hotel on the western corner of Ann and Edward Streets, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Temperance Hall The site had long been associated with the temperance movement, having formerly been occupied by the T ...

in the

, a temperance hotel

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, William Robert 19th-century Australian philanthropists Australian miners 1930 deaths 1859 births 20th-century Australian philanthropists