YOURIPSWICH.COM BECAUSE ITS YOUR IPSWICH

ca. 2002 Aerial Photo of Heiner Road Precinct Birth Place Of Queensland Railways

Ipswich, Queensland Fighting to Save Our Uniquely Australian Heritage.

Developments, Heritage and the Environment are normally not associated with one another in the same discussion due to their perceived inability to co-exist.

There is a battle being waged in Ipswich to try and save the very first pieces of Railway Infrastructure built in the Sate of Queensland, built by the Southern and Western Railway in 1864-65 (spanning over three centuries). This is not about stopping development, it is a fight to allow our heritage to co-exist with and be proudly featured in a new shopping complex.

We need help from the Citizens of Queensland, Australia and from around the world to save the birth place of Queensland Rail which occurred in Ipswich in 1864 (tenders were called in 1863), it is the first Railway in the world to be constructed as a government enterprise.

(28th May 2005) (Information obtained from a Queensland Heritage Council web page)

Recent research has revealed that South Australia Railways may actually hold the title for the first Government built and owned steam railway in the British Empire.

The 1865 Ipswich to Toowoomba section of the Southern and Western Railway is recognised as the World's first main-line narrow guage railway. The 1864 Ipswich Wharf branch line was the first section of railway track in Queensland and was the oldest section of surviving narrow guage railway in the world.

The surviving pieces of our Railway Heritage that are under threat are:

The Wharf Branch Railway (1864 - first very section of Railway in Queensland).
Heiner Road (1864-65 - first main road approach to the first road/rail bridge in Queensland).
Heiner Road Overbridge (1864-65 - first road over rail Overbridge to be built in Queensland).

They are under threat to be built over by a Kmart and a Bi-Lo shopping centre complete with a multi storey concrete carpark. We want the developers to re-design a small part of the overall development to allow it to co-exist with our heritage.

Is it too late to save our heritage? NO
Was the heritage known to exist by the developer, Ipswich City Council and the Sate Government before the current plans were drawn? YES
Was the heritage listed on the Ipswich City Council's Heritage Register? YES
Are any of the items on the Queensland Heritage Register? YES
Should these Registers have protected them? YES
Is the bulk of the development on State Land? YES
Was it a condition of the redevelopment expressions of interest that the heritage be saved? YES
Has the general public been fully informed and consulted in regards to the current development? NO
Were they recommended to form part of a heritage trail in 1991? YES

To better understand when the building of Queensland's Railways were undertaken, please take the time to review the following before proceeding:

1859 The separate colony of Queensland was established.
1859 Ipswich Courthouse was built.
1859 The weekly Ipswich Herald newspaper was established, it later developed into the Queensland Times.
1861 American Civil war starts
1863 Queensland Legislature would not accept the transportation of convicts to any part of Queensland .
1863 Melanesians (Kanakas) were imported to work under the Masters and Servants Act in cotton and sugar fields in Queensland .
1863 The Presbyterian Church of QLD was formed.
1863 Tenders called in Ipswich for the construction of the first railway in Queensland .
1864 Railway Wharf , Tramway and Heiner Road Over Bridge constructed at North Ipswich
1864 Support for Darwin's theory of evolution came from SA Chief Justice Richard Hanson.
1864 John Melton Black establishes port to be known as Townsville.
1865 The rack wool press was demonstrated in Melbourne
1865 The opening of Queensland 's first railway in Ipswich .
1865 Divorce law was introduced in QLD.
1865 The NSW bushranger Ben Hall was shot.
1865 The NSW government made it an offence to harbour bushrangers
1865 American Civil war finishes & US President Lincoln is assassinated shortly after.
1866 Ipswich solicitor Arthur Macalister becomes the 'Premier' of Queensland (the first to use the title of 'Premier' as well as the previous title of 'Colonial Secretary').
1867 Railway line completed from Ipswich to Toowoomba.
1867 St Helena Island Penal Settlement starts operating.
1875 Railway between Ipswich and Brisbane was opened.
1878 The Kelly gang was formed (Ned Kelly was hanged in 1880)
1878-79 The Ipswich Railway Stores building was constructed (existing brick building adjacent to the Heiner Road Bridge )
1880-81 Fort Lytton was built to protect the city of Brisbane from naval invasion.