Ipswich Cotton Company Ltd.

Ipswich Cotton Company was established in 1861. The purpose of the company was to grow, buy and sell cotton. The company float aimed to raise £15,000 capital through sales of £25 shares. Directors of Ipswich Cotton Co. were Joshua Peter Bell, William Walter Gray, John Ferrett, John Hardy, John Panton, & R. J. Smith, with Henry Cockburn as secretary and Charles Dun as manager. Initially the company was established on a 20 hectare plantation in the Booval area. Before long they had 100 acres under cultivation. 

By the first half-yearly general meeting of shareholders held Wednesday 15 January 1862 some shares were still not sold, although many of the existing shareholders were local cotton producers. The company had offices in Nicholas Street. On 10 July 1862 the Ipswich Cotton Company sent its first commercial consignment of 40 bales of cotton overseas. In the second half of the decade following the conclusion of the Civil War in the USA the cotton industry again became competitive. This impacted local production and pricing, and was the first manifestation of what would be a rocky road for cotton in Australia and Queensland. Drought and pests also took a toll on crops and Ipswich Cotton Co. often struggled to survive. Due to financial problems in 1889 ownership of the Ipswich Cotton Company passed to Qld National Bank and with that operations ceased.