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

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

churches and supported schools, orphanages and other charitable institutions in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

Biography

On 20 November 1922, the

Queensland Governor The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the monarch of Australia. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governor performs constitutional and ceremonial funct ...

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 (British colony), Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Quee ...

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 Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada * Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...

). It was operated by the Salvation Army 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 suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Burleigh Heads had a population of 10,077 people. Geography Burleigh Head is a cape () jutting into the Coral Sea at the northern mouth of Tallebudgera C ...

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

Maleny Maleny (pronounced ''mah-lay-knee'') is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. At the , the locality of Maleny had a population of 3,959 people. Maleny was a timber town ...

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

Brisbane CBD Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the ...

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. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

Fairholme College Fairholme College is an independent, Day school, 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 Elizab ...

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

* 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 unde ...

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 Oxley may refer to: Places Australia Australian Capital Territory * Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia Queensland *Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia ** Oxley railway station, Brisba ...

*Salvation Army's Industrial School for Boys at Indooroopilly (now

)

Other institutions

Gold Coast Hospital Gold Coast Hospital, located at 98–136 Nerang Street, Southport was, from 1960 to 2013 a major teaching and referral hospital and the third largest in Queensland. The Gold Coast Hospital had one of the busiest emergency departments in the s ...

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

* Canberra Hotel in the

, a temperance hotel

References

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