Ipswich is a suburb or regional city within City of Ipswich in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated on the Bremer River, it is approximately 40 km (25 mi) west of the Brisbane central business district. Ipswich is renowned for its architectural, natural and cultural heritage, and the city preserves and operates from many of its historical buildings, with more than 6000 heritage-listed sites and over 500 parks. Ipswich was founded in 1827 as a mining settlement, and soon developed into a major commercial and population centre. The suburb of the same name serves as the city’s central business district. In the 2021 census, the population of the urban area of Ipswich was 115,913 people.
Ipswich was tribally known as Coodjirar in the Yugararpul language.
Known as the Ugarapul and Yuggerabul people are Australian Aboriginal languages of South-East Queensland.Ipswich City Council, Lockyer Regional Council and the Somerset Regional Council. The languages of Greater Brisbane are related – there is uncertainty over which dialects belong to which language.The Yugarabul language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of Brisbane City Council, Ipswich City Council and the Scenic Rim Regional Council.
Prior to the arrival of European settlers, what is now called Ipswich was home to many indigenous language groups, including the Warpai tribe, Yuggera and Ugarapul Indigenous Australian groups. The area was first explored by European colonists in 1826, when Captain Patrick Logan, Commandant of the Moreton Bay penal colony, sailed up the Brisbane River and discovered large deposits of limestone and other minerals.
The town began in 1827 as a limestone mining settlement and grew rapidly as a major inland port. Ipswich was initially named "The Limestone Hills" and later shortened to "Limestone", however in 1843 it was renamed after the town of Ipswich in England. The population was 932 in 1851 and had risen to 2459 by 1856. It became a municipality in 1858. Ipswich had been a prime candidate for becoming the capital of Queensland from about 1847 when the Rev. John Dunmore Lang had toured both Ipswich and Brisbane, and noted the strength of Ipswich as a port town with access to the wool suppliers of the Darling Downs, but Brisbane was instead chosen due to its mercantile and colonial interests. Brisbane was declared the capital of the new Crown Colony of Queensland in 1859. It was proclaimed a city in 1904.
The city became a major coal-mining area in the early 19th Century, contributing to the development of railways in the region as a means of transport. The first recorded coal mines in the central Ipswich area started at Woodend in 1848. Triassic aged dinosaur footprints were found in underground coal mines in the vicinity of the suburbs of Ebbw Vale and New Chum while large numbers of Jurassic aged dinosaur footprints have been reported from the suburb of Rosewood.
From the 1840s onward, Ipswich was becoming an important river port for growing local industries such as coal and wool from the Darling Downs and a regular paddlesteamer service from Brisbane Town, The Experiment, was established in 1846. This, and other steamer services, remained the primary form of mass/bulk transport between the two cities until 1876, when the construction of the original Albert Bridge, spanning the Brisbane River at Indooroopilly, completed the railway line begun between Ipswich and Brisbane in 1873.
Ipswich was proclaimed a municipality on 3 March 1860 and became a city in 1904.
On 26 May 1872, a Primitive Methodist Church opened in East Street.
By April 1873 there were numerous churches in Ipswich: Anglican, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Primitive Methodist, German Lutheran, and Wesleyan Methodist.
A United Methodist Free Church opened in Brisbane Street in July 1873, having relocated from the "comparative obscurity" of North Ipswich.
In March 1888, 239 allotments of the "Liverpool Estate" were advertised to be auctioned by E. Bostock in conjunction with Arthur Martin & Co. A map advertising the auction shows the proximity of the estate to the railway workshops and the Bremer River.
In June 1911, 26 building sites of "East Ipswich Station Estate" were advertised to be auctioned by E. Bostock & Sons. A map advertising the auction shows the location of the estate in proximity to the railway line.
In 1914, 65 garden allotments were advertised to be auctioned by E. Bostock & Sons. The area was called the "Orangefield Estate". It was formerly an orchard of James Alexander Jackes, and the real estate map advertised that the estate was well stocked with fruit trees. It was reported in the Queensland Times that 20 allotments were sold. This article also listed the buyers. Unsold allotments were advertised in the Queensland Times.
In 1922, 12 allotments were advertised in the Queensland Times to be auctioned by Bacon & Co. Auctioneers in conjunction with H. J. Hargreaves & Co. The area was called the "Whitehill Road Estate". A map advertising the auction shows the estate is across the road from the intersection of Whitehill Road and Griffith Road. Both street names are still in use. By July 1922 the Queensland Times advertised that only six allotments were left.
In October 1925, several allotments in the "Fiveways Estate" at East Ipswich were advertised to be auctioned by Jackson & Meyers in conjunction with Bacon & Co. A map advertising the auction states that the lots were ideal for residential sites, convenient to the East Ipswich Railway Station and water, gas and electric light was available.
In 1928, 211 allotments were advertised to be auctioned by E. Bostock & Sons and W. B. Parkinson. The area was called the "Cribb Estate" and on the estate map it was noted that it was on the eastern slopes of Limestone Hill. The auction was advertised in the Queensland Times and it was also noted in the notes of the Council Meeting published in the Queensland Times that approval had been granted to gravel new roads in the estate before it was sold. It was reported in the Queensland Times that 40 allotments sold on the day of auction and some of the buyers were listed. By the end of 1928 it was reported in the Queensland Times that another 20 allotments had been sold.
In 1930, the Abermain Estate, Tivoli, was advertised to be auctioned by E. Bostock & Sons. The estate map noted that the area comprised the Abermain Colliery containing 1295 acres and farms. It was reported in the Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs Gazette, and The Brisbane Courier, that there was no bid for the coal mine but some farms had sold on the day of auction and some of the buyers were listed. It was also reported later in the Brisbane Courier of further items sold.
Several members of the British Royal Family have visited Ipswich.
1868 – Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
1920 – Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII)
1927 – Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth)
1958 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
1962 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone
2011 – Prince William (later Duke of Cambridge)
2014 – Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
Damaging floods have occurred on numerous occasions in Ipswich, the largest being the 1893 Brisbane flood peaking at 24.5 metres (80 ft), and more recently during the 1974 Brisbane Flood, (peaking at 20.7 metres (68 ft)) and 2010–11 Queensland floods (peaking at 19.4 metres (64 ft)) on 12 January 2011.
Around 35 people died in the floods in the 1893 Brisbane flood. The Brisbane River burst its banks on three occasions in February of that year and a fourth event several months later. Seven workers were killed at a colliery in north Ipswich as the Bremer River broke its banks.
Fourteen people died in flooding in January 1974, during the Australia Day weekend. Two people were killed in Ipswich. About 1,800 residential and commercial premises in Ipswich were flooded.
The Bremer River at Ipswich reached a height of 19.5 metres (64 ft) on 12 January, inundating the central business district and thousands of houses. 38 people died as a result of the floods. At Minden, on the border of Ipswich City, a four-year-old boy was swept away by floodwaters when he fell from a rescue boat. A man in his fifties died when he accidentally drove into floodwaters in the Ipswich suburb of Wulkuraka.
The worst affected areas of Ipswich were the suburbs of Goodna and Gailes. The flooding allowed bull sharks to reach the centre of Goodna; one was spotted swimming in Williams Street, and a second in Queen Street.
A multibillion-dollar class action lawsuit is underway against dam operators Seqwater, SunWater and the State of Queensland. Law firm Maurice Blackburn have lodged the suit on behalf of 5,500 Ipswich and Brisbane residents who lost their homes or businesses during the floods. Modelling released in 2013 claimed flooding of Ipswich CBD would not have been as extreme if Wivenhoe Dam operators had operated the dam correctly.
In the 2021 census, the population of Inner Ipswich (which encompasses the urban area of Ipswich) was 115,913 people.
History info courtesy of Wikipedia
