William Robert Black (1859-1930)

Mr William Robert Black was a mine owner, coal contractor and philanthropist, he was born on 3 March 1859 at Kildress, in the County of Tyrone in Northern Ireland.  He was the son of Robert Black, a farmer, and his wife Margaret (nee McNeece).  He arrived in Queensland on the Silver Light, worked around Maryborough as a farm-labourer, timber cutter and fencer, then moved to Brisbane and delivered coal with a hand-cart for a merchant named Lindsay. 

By 1885 he was in business for himself, delivering coal with a horse and dray.  He extended his interests to coal-transport on the Brisbane and Bremer Rivers, and soon controlled a fleet of six launches and 20 lighters by 17 May 1880.  His continuing good fortune and increasing wealth enabled Black to buy 700 acres (283ha) of coal deposits at Bundamba near Ipswich.  There he established the Blackheath Colliery and with electric haulage and advanced machinery was soon able to cut 600 tonnes a day – a State Record.

In 1892, Mr Black joined forces with the Wright Brothers operations at the Eclipse Mine and was appointed as their Brisbane Coal Agent. 

In 1896, Black took advantage of a strike in Newcastle and made a substantial sale to the Melbourne gasworks.

Mr Black was becoming a significant player in Queensland’s coal industry, and he undertook three more operations with the Wright Brothers.  The first was at Burrum where Black negotiated a contract with the Railway Department, and Charles Williams was sent to manage to mine, called Riverbank Mine.  The coke produced here was good quality but by 1899 Black decided to withdrawn from the operation because of he difficult underground conditions.

By 1900 the Bishop Mine was closed and the New Tivoli Mine was the Wrights’ main operation with the Walloon site becoming a second venture.  The coal here was particularly suitable for gas-making and so production was quickly raised. 

In 1903, Black bought out the Wright Brothers interest in the Caledonian Mine (Walloon) but relinquished his interest in Oakey there he and raised the mines output to 300 tonnes a day.   The Caledonian Colliery continued mining until 1960. 

      

Caledonian Colliery (Thagoona/Walloon)

Next came his purchase of the Abermain Colliery at North Ipswich which cost him an additional £8000 for a railway-siding and £40 000 for a new shaft and machinery.

 

Abermain Colliery (Tivoli)

By 1910, Mr Black had installed electrical equipment into his own Blackheath Mine including 7 coal-cutters with the electric plant for driving them which had been installed.  Black employed other mechanical advances in his mine along with the Aberdare, Rhondda and Box Flats mines, however these initiatives were the exception rather than the rule and they do not seem to have been adopted at any other mines.

Black retired from business in 1920.  After his retirement, he spent some years busily dispersing his fortune.  Small, dark, reserved and a devout Presbyterian anxious to maintain the link between religion and education, he gave mainly to church institutions.  He saw his wealth as a trust and believed that “much had been given that by him, much might be done”; all his gifts were carefully considered and were usually conditional on others agreeing to make donations. 

William Robert Black

In 1917 he helped to establish Fairholme, the Presbyterian Girls School in Toowoomba, and in 1919 Scots College for Boys in Warwick. 

 

Scots College for Boys (Warwick)                                    Fairholme College (Toowoomba)

From 1918 he served on the councils of both the Brisbane Boys’ College and Somerville House for Girls, a united educational venture by the Presbyterian Church in 1919-20 which then employed both a director and a kindergarten and primary supervisor of Sunday schools. 

Brisbane Boys College

Sommerville House

In 1923, Mr Black purchased a property in Oxley and donated it to the Presbyterian Church for the establishment of the Blackheath Home for Boys.

 

Blackheath Home for Boys

 In 1927, Black purchased the former home of Mr & Mrs John W Sutton at 7 Laurel Avenue, Chelmer and donated it to the Presbyterian Church for the establishment of W.R. Black Home for Girls.

W.R. Black Home for Girls

In 1929, he made two further donations to the Presbyterian Church, Stonehaven Home for Aged Ladies at Twickenham Street, Chelmer and Hopetoun Hall for Aged Men in Cliveden Avenue, Oxley/Corinda. 

Hopetoun Hall, Cliveden Avenue, Oxley (1960)

During 1929 and 1930, Mr Black continued making many other smaller donations to individual congregations which enabled the Presbyterian Church in Queensland to expand.

Mr Black died of Coronary Thrombosis on 2 October 1930 at St Martin’s Hospital, Brisbane.

 

St Martins Hospital, Ann Street, Brisbane

He had never married and, after various bequests to relations in the Channel Islands, the residue of an estate valued for probate at nearly £180 000 was left in trust for the Presbyterian Church in Queensland. 

His black-marble tombstone, erected by the Church in Toowong Cemetery, bears only the red hand of Ulster, a cross and two inscriptions:  “Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” and “The righteous showeth mercy and giveth”.

William Robert Black at W.R. Black Home for Girls

William Robert Black’s Black Marble Tombstone, Toowong Cemetery

In March 1978, the administrators of the now combined Scots PGS College issued this statement through the newspapers:

“What courage it required to embrace this exciting future in the darkest hour of the worst war the world had ever seen.  The generosity of Presbyterian philanthropist, Mr W.R. Black, made this physically possible.”

His name lives on in our history books!

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