Dines performs at a party in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, in 1979. [Shanghai Daily]

Dines met his Spanish wife in China and they've got a daughter and a son. Around 2002, the family decided to adopt another child so they selected their youngest daughter from an orphanage in Hefei, Anhui Province.

There he witnessed a severe lack of staff. The few nannies only had time to feed the babies and change their clothes, with no time left to nurture and play with them. "That was a big impact on us," he said.

Dines subsequently looked at several charity organizations and decided to fund the "Half the Sky Foundation," which is engaged in supporting the training of nannies.

Unemployed women were trained by the foundation to become nannies and sent to work in orphanages. "We think that's a very simple idea which directly helps orphans," he added.

His wife now works full time for the organization.

All of his three children were born and raised in China but now spend their summer holidays in Spain, their mother's country, and Christmas in Australia. "We think it's very important for them to have a connection with both Australia and Spain," he said.

He believes Australia is a good place to grow up, where people aren't very rich but have good values. His small hometown in Queensland gave him a clear sense of identity and basic rights and wrongs.

Dines stepped down as head of BHP Billiton China last month. "I'm a little bit tired to think of future plans," he said.

"I'll take a good vacation before I decide what to do next.

"I was almost doing five jobs at once," he sighed, referring to the huge pressures of the job.

"I'm not spending enough time with my family and I'll get a good vacation in the next few months with my children," he said.

(Shanghai Daily August 4, 2009)