What do Queensland’s first coal mine, defence force, secondary school and railway have in common? They were all established in Ipswich.
So prosperous was Ipswich upon being declared a municipality on 3 March 1860, it had been strongly considered a candidate for capital city of Queensland.
“Ipswich soon became the centre for the men of the inland, and in addition it began to grow at a faster rate than the older settlement, threatening to overtake and even pass it. As separation became more likely, Brisbane became even more suspicious of its rival, for each desired to be the capital, partly from the additional prestige that would be gained, but also from the increase in property values.”
During this period, Cleveland was also in the running for the capital city honour, amid proposals to construct a port at the Moreton Bay-side settlement.
Cleveland’s case was not helped when a long-awaited visit by New South Wales Governor Sir George Gipps coincided with low tide.
“His Excellency and suite were boated to the ooze as far as the depth admitted; there was no help for it. Too heavy to be carried, they all had to take to the water, which was more in conformity with their tastes, it appeared through the Captain’s glass, than the mud proved to be,” wrote settler Henry Stuart Russell, who was present.
“Floundering and flopping through such a hundred yards of deep nastiness was quiet enough to settle the question between Brisbane and its rival.”
Sydney politician John Dunmore Lang, a famous advocate for Australian federalism who Brisbane’s Lang Park (now Suncorp Stadium) is named after, also initially supported the Cleveland port idea, which he believed strengthened Ipswich’s credentials for capital city.
“Ipswich is a rising and thriving village, and must evidently, at no distant period, become a place of no small importance,” Lang, who would ultimately favour Brisbane for capital, wrote in 1847.
“Indeed, the people in business at Brisbane are already somewhat jealous of the growing importance of Ipswich, and not without good reason; for, the event of a commercial port being established in the Bay; either at Toorbul or at Cleveland Point, the wool and other produce from the interior would unquestionably be all shipped direct for that port from Ipswich, without being landed at Brisbane at all.
“In the prospect of such an arrangement, which I conceive is the natural and necessary one, the attempt of the Local Government to induce people to buy town allotments at a high minimum price, either at North or South Brisbane, under the idea that the principal port and settlement of the district is to be in that locality is something like an attempt to cozen them out of their money.”
Ipswich’s rise had foundations in limestone and coal. European settlement of the area began when Moreton Bay penal colony commander Captain Patrick Logan set up a lime burning operation in 1827. In 1843, Queensland’s first coal mine was opened at Redbank.
Much of the debate around the capital city question played out in the press.
Newspapers North Australian and Moreton Bay Free Press led the charge for Ipswich in the 1850s, before Ipswich Herald (later titled Queensland Times) joined the chorus at late in the debate in 1859.
Moreton Bay Courier, later to become The Courier Mail, advocated for Brisbane, which was a commercial and administrative hub.
Exemplifying the lively debate was a description of pro-Brisbane regional police magistrate Captain John Clements Wickham by North Australian, that, “in his public capacity he seemed quite incapable of taking enlarged views, and extending his mental vision beyond the limits of Newstead”.
Brisbane was supported in the race by leaders in Sydney. The NSW Government chose Brisbane as the location for an immigration depot and gaol, also denying Ipswich’s bid to build its own.
Calls for Richmond Valley and Clarence Valley to be included in the new colony of Queensland, placing Ipswich in a more central geographical location, were rejected by the government.
A proposal to build a railway line between Ipswich and the Darling Downs, opposed by the Courier, was also shot down.
Brisbane, however, had its own problems. Morrison, citing newspaper writings, described a wild dog and frog-infested swampy mess.
“Not only was this a very malodorous area, but it was thickly populated with frogs, which gave it the name of Frogs’ Hollow,” Morrison wrote of what’s now the Brisbane CBD encompassing the areas of Albert and Margaret streets.
“Almost as loud and frequent as the cries of the frogs were the complaints of the populace, if we can judge from letters to the editor and editorials in both the town’s newspapers of the fifties.”
In such bad shape were Brisbane’s streets, a Courier writer labelled them “a standing grievance for even the most patient and enduring inhabitants” where “ruts and elevations, bogs, pools and quagmires meet the unhappy pedestrian at every step”.
Another description in the same publication a week later went ever further: “We see poor little men, and sadder still, distressed and helpless little women, stuck fast in the middle of the principal streets, and unable to go on their way. Mud before, mud on the flanks, and mud in the rear, they stand in a condition of hopeless bewilderment.”
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said as Ipswich celebrates its 165th birthday, reflecting on the city’s rich and storied history opens a window to understanding how it has become a thriving city with a bright future.
“Traditionally known as Tulmur, our city’s lands and waters have been home to the Jagera, Yuggera and Ugarapul Peoples of the Yugara/Yagara language group for millennia, with the traditional customs, traditions, and cultural practices proudly continuing through to younger generations today,” Mayor Harding said.
“In more recent times, the European history of what is now known as Ipswich began when Moreton Bay penal colony commander Captain Patrick Logan set up a lime burning operation in 1827.
“Ipswich was declared a municipality in 1860 and the same year, the Ipswich Troop of the Queensland Mounted Rifles became the first defence force in Queensland, while Ipswich Grammar School opened as the state’s first secondary school three years later.
“Today, Ipswich is home to 260,000 residents from more than 160 countries. We have a youthful population with the median age of 33 – five years lower than the state and national median.
“The local economy is also booming, having grown by 6.81 per cent in the 2023-24 financial year to a Gross Regional Product of $13.73 billion.”
When the New South Wales Municipalities Act was passed in 1858, the race was on between Brisbane and Ipswich to become the first to become incorporated – and whichever was first would take the lead in the capital race, according to Morrison.
Brisbane was first to become gazetted before being proclaimed a municipality in September 1859.
Ipswich took six months longer. As Morrison put it, “proceedings had dragged on in Ipswich”.
The municipality movement was controversial at the time in Ipswich. At the first residents’ meeting, much of the conversation centred on concerns that residents’ rates payments could be absorbed in management costs of running the municipality.
In October 1859, after months of further meetings and debate, agreement was reached on the wording of a pro-municipality petition to the Governor.
That petition was received by the Governor of New South Wales on 16 November 1859, two weeks before the proclamation of the Colony of Queensland.
A counter-petition was quickly arranged, attracting more signatures initially – 109 in all, becoming one of the first documents to be received by the new Governor of Queensland, Sir George Bowen on 3 January 1860.
That document stated that “the incorporation of the Town of Ipswich at the present conjuncture would be impolitic and injurious to the interests of the inhabitants”.
Governor Bowen accepted a revised petition from municipality supporters, containing 81 signatures. He declared Ipswich a municipality taken on 2 March and gazetted on 3 March 1860.
Meanwhile, Brisbane won the race to become Queensland’s capital city and Governor Gipps returned to much fanfare to make the official declaration in December 1859.
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