Royal Blind Foundation
1883 – 2006
It was generally assumed in the last decades of the nineteenth century that the welfare of the disabled and the destitute was the responsibility of families or voluntary charitable institutions such as the Friendly Societies
This was a situation which prominent community leaders in Brisbane at the end of the nineteenth century felt had to be challenged.
1873Mr J B Driscoll petitions the government for aid on behalf of 14 families who sent their children to the Sydney Blind Deaf and Dumb Institution because there was no such facility in Brisbane.
1883The Institution in Brisbane, under the control of a Management Committee, is established.
1887A manager’s residence, an office and a workshop are built from public donations and the first six workers (four totally blind and two partially sighted) commence the production of halters, mats, mattresses and baskets.
1888Mr Isaac Dickinson is appointed the first manager of the Institution
1889The government starts to subsidise charitable funds raised for the welfare of blind people.
1893A boarding school for blind, deaf and dumb children is completed.
By the end of the century there is forty-four adults and fifty-three children in attendance.
1904-09The library is completed and a small brickworks is added. A knitting machine is provided for blind women in the hope that this will bring in more contract work.
1918The Queensland Blind and Deaf and Dumb Institution becomes a charitable institution under the Charitable Institutions Management Act 1855 (Qld).
1921The forerunner to the Royal Blind Society, the Queensland Musical, Literary and Self-Aid Society for the Blind, conductsits first literary competition, known today as ‘The Edwin and Harold Dickinson Literary Competition’.
1924The education of Blind children becomes compulsory after fierce lobbying by workers.
1932A fire destroys part of the plant.
1939Additions to the site include an additional brick wing to the residence, a dining hall, a goods warehouse, a workshop office and storeroom facilities.
1950’sA canteen is added, fire destroys the bedding workshop and the library acquires talking books and talking book machines.
1956Blind students are accepted into the secondary school system, firstly at CavendishRoadHigh School and later at KelvinGroveHigh School.
1963The Government establishes a separate school for blind children at the BurandaInfantsSchool, later known as Narbethong (an Aboriginal word meaning ‘cheerful place).
1972A workshop is added to the plant to provide work for people who were intellectually disabled as well as blind.
1983Approximately sixty people are employed by QIIB, some one-third sighted with the remainder vision impaired or blind.
1996The Queensland Government incorporates Vision Queensland on 22 October 1996 to accept management responsibility for the Queensland Blind Industrial Centre.
2001Royal Blind Foundation is formed through amalgamation of the following organisations:
Vision Queensland
Queensland Blind Industrial Centre
Blind and Low Vision Youth Support
Association
Queensland Foundation for Blind
People
Deaf Blind Association of Queensland
Royal Blind Society
2001Royal Blind Foundation develops the fundraising and awareness campaign Shades Day
2005Royal Blind Foundation launches new corporate identity and logo
2005Royal Blind Foundation merges with Blind and Vision Impaired Persons Network on the Sunshine Coast, and extends services to Cairns, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, the Wide Bay, Burnett and Toowoomba region.