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Daniel Keenan - Principal Officer Urban Design and Heritage Conservation
These images represent places that evoke my strongest sense of belonging to this place - through stories, smells and affection.
The Keenans had been living the hills of Woodend for over a hundred years. We lived near the war memorial that contained my grandfather’s and great uncles names. My father, Jim Keenan, took care of the memorial for many years until his death. Dad would raise and lower the flag every morning. It is satisfying to know that this ritual was perpetuated after he died.
As a child in the 1960s the Ipswich Library was housed in this building. I remember catching the green Amberley bus with my grandmother from Eastern Heights to the library. She had a special cane library basket.
Ray Fowler was my uncle. I remember the particular smell of oil and metal emanating from the dark interior that was ‘too dangerous’ for me to enter. My uncle and grandfather worked there as well.
Ipswich Soldiers Memorial Hall
In the 1960s the Blood Bank was housed on the lower floor. I remember fondly the large table of cakes and sausage rolls on the table where I was positioned while my mother gave blood.
Irish immigrants, James and Anne Keenan, were my great-grandparents. At the end of the 19th century they leased the public baths on the river bank near St. Mary’s at Woodend. They conducted swimming lessons and had one morning per week for female bathing.
The Commercial Hotel was the local watering hole for Woodend residents. I remember as a small boy sitting on a tall stool at the end of the bar drinking double sars with my grandfather and father.