Background
Diplock was born in South Brisbane to house-painter Louis Diplock and Louisa May, née Lucas and attended state and private schools in Rockhampton.
Diplock was born in South Brisbane to house-painter Louis Diplock and Louisa May, née Lucas and attended state and private schools in Rockhampton.
He was a student teacher from 1914 and taught in Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Bribie Island from 1918 to 1924. He was head teacher at six successive schools before acting as district inspector of schools for the south-west region from June to December 1952. He was elected to the seat of Condamine in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in 1953 as a Labor Party candidate.
During the Labor split of that year, Diplock sided with his leader Vince Gair in splitting away to form the Queensland Labor Party (QLP), and he retained Condamine in that year"s election.
He transferred to Aubigny in 1960, defeating the sitting Country Party member, but by 1963 Diplock was the QLP"s sole parliamentary representative. The QLP formally aligned with the national Democratic Labor Party in 1962, although Diplock continued to describe himself as a QLP member until 1969.
He continued to represent Aubigny until its abolition in 1972, when he retired following the seat"s abolition. He retired to Scarborough.
He died in 1983 at Sandgate and was cremated.
Diplock, despite being a member of the Catholic-associated DLP, was a devoted Anglican and Freemason.