Town Marie

To learn about the history of Richard Joseph Smith's 'Town Marie' on the banks of the Bremer River at Karalee, refer to Ken Grubb's website: Town Marie, the pioneer settlement at Karalee near Ipswich.

Everick Foundation has been conducting archaeological field schools on the former site of Town Marie since 2021. On 6 October 2023, Dr. Serena Love presented a paper titled 'Industrial Ipswich: Archaeology of a boiling down works, Town Marie. The site was established in 1848 and was in operation until 1880, primarily as a boiling down works. The working paper highlighted the results of archaeological excavations including 30 kilograms of 'primarily sheep bones, ceramics, brick and glass fragments, and architectural features'.

Additional information about this important early industry can be found in newspaper articles on Trove, some of which appear in the links below.