Ipswich, Queensland

Ipswich is a suburb and a major urban centre of metropolitan Brisbane Queensland, Australia approximately 40 km south-west of the Brisbane CBD in South East Queensland. The City of Ipswich including surrounding suburbs has an estimated population of 162,383.

Once a large independent city, Ipswich and its suburbs were absorbed by Brisbane's south west urban sprawl along the railway and freeway corridors during the mid 20th century. However the city has retained its municipal status and along with it an independent history and culture. The city is situated on the Bremer River and the urban area extends along the river's hilly valley. Ipswich is a major commercial and industrial area, with the Ipswich CBD one of the largest activity centres outside of central Brisbane. It is currently undergoing major transit oriented urban renewal which was first planned in the Ipswich Regional Centre Strategy.

Ipswich was named in 1843 after the town of Ipswich, England. It was first settled in 1827 after limestone was mined there, proclaimed a municipality in 1858 and a city in 1904.

History
Prior to the arrival of European settlers, the Ipswich region was home to the Ugarapul Indigenous Australian group of tribes. 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.

In 1827, the first convicts and overseers arrived to mine the area. The town that built around this industry became known as Limestone, and is remembered by one of the main streets through the Ipswich city centre. In 1843, the settlement officially became known as Ipswich, making it the oldest provincial city in Queensland. The name change was proposed by surveyor Henry Wade and approved by Sir George Gipps, a soldier and Governor of New South Wales. The town of Ipswich in England was once called Gipeswic, derived from the Old English for "workplace by water".

From the 1840s Ipswich was becoming an important river port for the growing local industries such as coal, and wool from the Darling Downs, so 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.

Father William McGinty, a native of Northern Ireland, took charge of Ipswich Roman Catholic Parish in 1852 and had the first St Mary's Church built. This building was described as "a rude slab building of small dimensions, without glass windows, only shutters." This church was later demolished and replaced by a "beautiful stone edifice of Gothic design" as quoted from a member of the church community. This was the old St. Mary's and it cost £7,000. The year was 1862.

Ipswich was proclaimed as a municipality on 2 March 1860, and became a city in 1904. Damaging flooding has occurred on numerous occasions, the largest being in 1893 peaking at 24.5 metres, and more recently during the 1974 Brisbane Flood, peaking in Ipswich at 20.7 metres. Collectively, 8500 houses were flooded in Ipswich and Brisbane.

In the 1980s and 1990s, with land in nearby Brisbane becoming fully developed, and very expensive for housing, many new large scale housing estates became attractive for buyers in Ipswich with lower prices and bigger lots. Such new housing estates sprung up in Goodna, Brassall, Springfield Lakes, Collingwood Park, Redbank Plains with acreage estates in Karalee, Barellan Point, and Chuwar. The first masterplanned community in South-east Queensland was subsequently established at Springfield.

Climate
Ipswich experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa).

Economy
Ipswich was a major mining centre, particularly coal mining. The city is the 'cradle of coal mining in Queensland'. Other secondary manufacturing industries included earthenware works, sawmills, abattoirs and foundries, while the region is also rich agriculturally.

Ipswich is the site of RAAF Base Amberley, the Royal Australian Air Force's largest operational base. RAAF Amberley is currently home to No. 1 and No. 6 Squadrons flying F-111 strike aircraft. These aircraft will be decommissioned in December 2010 and have been replace by the FA-18E/F Super Hornet. In addition a number of ground support units are located at Amberley. The airbase is currently being expanded and will eventually also house No. 33 Squadron (flying Airbus A330 MRTT tanker-transports) and No. 36 Squadron (flying C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft) and several Army units.

Ipswich is also home to a campus of the University of Queensland, the annual Ipswich Cup horse races one of the biggest race meets in Queensland where over 24,000 attend, and The Workshops Railway Museum to commemorate the first trainline in Queensland from Ipswich to Grandchester (Bigges Camp ), approximately 25 km to the west. The present Ipswich Station is a major transport interchange.

A large shopping complex is being developed in the eastern suburb of Springfield. Accompanying this is a satellite campus of the University of Southern Queensland, which has its primary campus in Toowoomba. Redbank Plaza shopping mall has had eight cinemas added as well as a fourth floor of shopping. Three clear retail and service hubs are developing outside Ipswich central and besides Springfield. Brassall and Karalee to the north, Yamanto to the South, and Booval in the central east.

Housing
The traditional Ipswich dwelling has always been a detached home on land, however this is changing as housing demand and a desire to live closer to amenities increases. New estates and suburbs are currently under development in the south-eastern section of the city as well as Ripley Valley.

Health
Ipswich Hospital is the major public hospital in the city. St Andrew's Private Hospital is the city's only major private hospital.

Transport
The main form of transport in Ipswich is the private vehicle. Ipswich also has direct access to the Ipswich Motorway (linking to Brisbane); the Cunningham Highway (linking to Warwick); the Warrego Highway (linking to Toowoomba); and the Centenary Highway (linking Springfield and the Ripley Valley to Brisbane).

Ipswich Railway Station is a major hub for rail transport. The electified rail lines that runs from Ipswich through Brisbane's western suburbs to the Brisbane CBD is known as the Ipswich Line. The Rosewood railway line is also electrified and continues west through Ipswich's western suburbs to the town of Rosewood. Both lines are operated by Queensland Rail. A rail line has been proposed to run from Ipswich to Yamanto, and the Ripley Valley. The Westlander, operated by Traveltrain stops at Ipswich Station once a week on its journey to and Charleville and stops along the way include Toowoomba.

Ipswich is also the hub of a large bus network. Westside Buslines is the prominent bus company in Ipswich, linking all sides of town to Ipswich CBD; Redbank; Springfield; or Forest Lake (in Brisbane). They also operate services on behalf of Queensland Rail to Fernvale, Lowood, Coominya, Esk, and Toogoolawah. Southern Cross Citilink is a bus which operates between Ipswich and Indooroopilly via Riverlink, Karalee, Chuwar, Karana Downs, Anstead, and Kenmore. Bus Queensland Lockyer Valley operates bus services on behalf of Queensland Rail to Gatton and Helidon. An Airport Express Bus operates from Ipswich to Brisbane Airport on a regular basis. Prior bookings are essential though. Greyhound Australia offers daily direct services to Toowoomba, Mount Isa, Charleville, Sydney and Melbourne from the Ipswich Transit Centre. Crisps coaches offer daily direct services to and from Warwick and Stanthorpe.

Bicycle transport is not well facilitated in Ipswich, although there are some marked on-road lanes there are few segregated bicycle facilities. A 65 kilometre trail linking Ipswich to Boonah includes bicycle and walking paths is currently under construction. A new cycleway has been created at Brassall. The bikeway is 2.6 km in length and connects the suburbs of Brassall and North Ipswich. Further bikeways are being constructed, such as the link to Redbank Plains High school and by the utilization of the former Brisbane Valley Rail line. This will connect Wulkuraka to Blackbutt.

Utilities
Water for Ipswich is supplied by Queensland Urban Utilities and is sourced from the South East Queensland Water Grid. Ipswich is under permanent water restrictions.

Sport

 * The Ipswich Knights play in the Brisbane Premier League Division 1 competition.
 * The Ipswich Jets play in the Queensland Cup competition.
 * The V8 Supercars race each year at Queensland Raceway at Willowbank in mid July.
 * Brookwater Golf Club, designed by Greg Norman, is located in Springfield.
 * The Ipswich Cougars play in the Gridiron Queensland league and have been one of the most dominant teams since the launch of Gridiron in Queensland.
 * AFL is well represented. The Ipswich Eagles play in second tier division of AFL Queensland, and Collingwood Park Power play in Division 3. The Ipswich Miners play in the under 18 competition of AFL Queensland. Collingwood Park(Power), Ipswich Central (Cats)and Springfield Lakes play in the junior competition of AFL Brisbane Juniors.
 * Drag Racing is conducted at Willowbank Raceway year round with events open to both professional and amateur racers, including a series conducted to facilitate newcomers to the sport.
 * Hockey is a major sport in the city, and is played at Briggs road facility where there are 2 artificial surfaces that are world class.

Sportspeople

 * Allan Langer (attended Ipswich State High School and Blair State Primary School)
 * The "Walters Brothers, rugby league players - Kevin Walters, Kerrod Walters and Steve Walters
 * Dale Shearer, rugby league player who represented Queensland and Australia at rugby league
 * Craig McDermott and Shane Watson, represented Queensland and Australia in cricket, attended Ipswich Grammar School.
 * John Buchanan, former Australian cricket team coach
 * Berrick Barnes, dual code rugby footballer and Wallabies player (attended Ipswich Grammar School)
 * Rhan Hooper, professional Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League (AFL) (attended Bundamba State Secondary College)
 * Mark Tonelli, Olympic gold medallist in swimming, member of the Quietly Confident Quartet.
 * Israel Folau, professional dual code footballer Australian rugby league representative and Australian rules footballer with the Western Sydney Football Club. Played for Ipswich junior rugby league team Goodna Eagles.
 * Lagi Setu: NRL Player for The Brisbane Broncos (attended Ipswich Grammar School)
 * Craig Pollamounta: Former NRL Bulldogs player ( attended Ipswich Grammar School)
 * Des Morris, Queensland rep and current Australian selector (attended Bremer High School)
 * Rod Morris, former Balmain, Queensland, NSW and Australian Front rower (attended Bremer High School)
 * Noel Kelly: former Australia and QLD Rugby League player.
 * Junior Sau, professional rugby league player for the Newcastle Knights (attended Ipswich Grammar School)
 * Arthur Bush, Lyndsey Woods Olympic representatives for Hockey
 * Current Hockyroos player Amy Korner and Kookaburra's Bates twins

Politicians
David Hamill, attended Bremer High School and was dux. He was a Queensland labour minister in the Goss government
 * Neville Bonner: The first indigenous Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia.
 * Llewellyn Edwards: Sir Llew entered Queensland state parliament as the Liberal Party Member for Ipswich Liberal Party of Australia in 1972. In 1984 he was made a Knight Bachelor, and in 1989, a Companion of the Order of Australia.
 * Bill Hayden: former Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia, leader of federal Australian Labor Party.
 * Pauline Hanson: former member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Independent member for Oxley (1996–1998) and founder of the One Nation Party.
 * Cameron Thompson: former Liberal member for Blair (1998–2007).
 * Shayne Neumann: present Labor member for Blair (2007–present)

Musicians

 * Matthew Hickey: singer, founder and director of The Ten Tenors
 * David McCormack: former lead member of Custard and The Titanics.
 * Harold Blair: Aboriginal Tenor and music teacher
 * Thomas Shapcott: Author and poet
 * Kharizma: contestants on the second season of The X Factor.

Other

 * John Birmingham: (Liverpool-born) Author
 * John Bradfield: Engineer and designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge; Story Bridge; and the Sydney Railway System
 * Joy Chambers: Author, Actor
 * D'Arcy Doyle: Painter
 * Sir Harry Gibbs: Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia
 * Sir Samuel Griffith: Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia
 * Frederick Kesner: (Manila-born) Poet

Colleges and universities

 * University of Queensland, Ipswich
 * Auto Trade College, Bundamba
 * Bremer Institute of TAFE, Ipswich, Bundamba & Goodna
 * University of Southern Queensland, Springfield

Secondary schools
Ipswich has a considerable number of secondary schools including:
 * Bremer State High School
 * Bundamba State Secondary College
 * Ipswich Girls' Grammar School, established 1892
 * Ipswich Grammar School, established in 1863, first school to open as a result of the Grammar Schools Act of 1860
 * Ipswich State high School
 * Redbank Plains State High School
 * Rosewood State High School
 * Saint Edmund's College
 * Saint Mary's College
 * St Augustine's College Springfield
 * St Peter Claver College
 * West Moreton Anglican College, Karrabin
 * Westside Christian College
 * Woodcrest State College

Primary schools
Ipswich has a number of primary schools including:
 * Amberley District State Primary School (formerly Amberley State Primary School)
 * Goodna State School, established in 1870.
 * Ipswich State School
 * Silkstone State School
 * St Marys Primary school
 * St Josephs Primary School
 * Brassall State Primary School
 * North Ipswich State Primary School
 * East Ipswich State Primary School
 * West Ipswich State Primary School
 * Central State Primary School
 * Bundamba State Primary School
 * Blair State Primary School
 * Karalee State Primary School
 * Tivoli State Primary School
 * Churchill State Primary School
 * Redbank Plains State School
 * Redbank State Primary School
 * Riverview State School
 * Camira State School

Ipswich Show
The first Ipswich Annual Show was held on 2 April 1873, by the Queensland Pastoral and Agricultural Society. There had been shows staged by the Ipswich and West Moreton Horticultural and Agricultural Society as early as 1868. Originally held at the sale yards situated at Lobb St, Churchill, the show moved to its present home at the Ipswich Showgrounds in 1877.



Goodna Jacaranda Festival
This festival has been held annually at Goodna (Evan Marginson Sportsground) since 1968, over 10,000 people attend this three day event. The festival features a talent quest, school band competition, fun run, live entertainment as well as the regular attractions such as sideshow alley, food and stalls.

Since 2009 the festival has had its own website, goodnajacarandafestival.com, and in 2010 it joined facebook at facebook.com/goodna.jacaranda/festival