The name Challinor was chosen for the centre in honour of Dr Henry Challinor, an Ipswich doctor with a strong social conscience who gave up his private practice to become the second superintendent at Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum.

The patients were now called residents, and for the first time, segregation of the sexes and the staff who looked after them ceased. A lot of these changes were unsettling for the staff, as the old ways of running things were about to face a huge upheaval. There was a move to more involvement with social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and special teachers. This was not completely welcomed by staff, as the residents seemed to warm to these changes in the routine. Official visitors felt the care had improved.

Old Male Ward 1 was demolished in 1969, followed by Female Ward 1 in 1973, part of the nurse’s quarters in 1979 and the landmark water tower in 1980. Most of the other old buildings, including Dagmar House were earmarked for demolition, but fortunately this did not proceed due to a lack of funding and declining resident numbers.

A new building program was embarked upon, the first building being the new Arthur Pavilion which was opened in 1972, and a complete break from the previous style of the past. Dark brown brick with a low pitched roof and sprawling in design, it housed 104 residents, mostly in motel type accommodation. It also combined a lot of facilities and included a library, school room, occupational therapy and wood workshop among many other things. No doubt built with practicality in mind, it did little to enhance the appearance of the site.

The farming complex had gradually disappeared in the early seventies and a new sports oval was constructed in its place in 1978 and a putt putt course constructed near Ellen & Frances House. Emphasis was again being placed on the therapeutic values of recreational activities, just as Ellerton had initiated back in the early 1900’s.

A training facility for staff was constructed on the site where Female 1 formerly was, and a canteen which was available to both staff and residents was constructed not far from the sport’s oval. This allowed residents and their families somewhere to go to have light refreshments in the small dining area.

Gradually, over this time, more residents were being moved into the community and by 1980 only 380 remained. Some of the motel style of accommodation was converted into flats, so small groups of residents could cook and do more things for themselves. The nursing model was changing to a caring model and those nurses who did not feel comfortable with this and who did want to complete the Certificate of Residential Care were given the opportunity to transfer to Goodna. Most of the intellectually disabled children were moved to villa type accommodation at the Basil Stafford Centre, Toowoomba and by 1978 only a few severely disabled remained in Charles Pavilion.

It is difficult to summarize all the changes that occurred during this time. The process of giving the intellectually disabled as normal a life as possible was beginning, transferring them from an institutional environment to one resembling a home environment, with many support services in the community. This was not always an easy process for those who had been institutionalized nearly all of their lives but on the whole the outcomes were very positive – so successful that the Challinor Centre had begun to outlive its usefulness. By the 1990’s only 170 residents remained and the inevitable announcement that the centre would close within 3 years was made. It was sadly and slowly dying.