Hughes & Cameron

On 1 July 1864 David Hughes and Charles Christopher Cameron became partners in the Ipswich Land Exchange & Auction Mart. The firm were auctioneers and real estate agents, located in Nicholas Street, Ipswich near the corner with Brisbane Street. Their office was a long wooden building owned by Rev. Thomas Deacon.  Years later the Gas Company's office and J. W. Berry's would be located where this building had been. The auction rooms of H. M. Cockburn were next door in the early years. 

David Hughes was already engaged in auctioneering, valuation and land sales prior to his partnership with Cameron. His company was the Ipswich Land Exchange which was located next door to Thomas Given a watchmaker and jeweller. Given's Corner shop was at the intersection of Brisbane & Nicholas Streets, where the Commonwealth Bank would later stand from 1930. Hughes also ran Hughes Labour Mart and Registry Office for Servants. Prior to these ventures he had worked for Panton & Co., also in Nicholas Street. 

The firm of Hughes & Cameron were auctioneers of land and furniture. They also held auctions for farms, oil paintings, cows, poultry, Wyman Estate at Brassall, Tantivy Estate, and Sherlock Estate. In 1916  a share auction was held where shares for Ipswich Gas & Coke Co., Qld National Bank, Qld Woollen Manufacturing Co. and others went under the hammer.

In 1876 Hughes & Cameron auctioned Bella Vista the residence of H. M. Cockburn and before that F. Rawlins. (Rawlings?) 

Hughes & Cameron moved into their new premises in 1889. This building was in more or less the same position in Nicholas Street, just down from the Brisbane Street corner. It was designed by Samuel Shenton and had a large auction room. Hughes & Cameron occupied the side of the building closest to Brisbane Street while the other side was occupied by James Hunter's Boot Palace. A few years later Hunter's Boot Palace moved out of this building and to the corner where Thomas Given had been. This was in MacFarlane & Sons building. 

The new building had rooms above the main floor that were used particularly in the early 20th century by all manner of local community groups for meetings, including: Ipswich Orchestral Society, Ambulance Brigade, Ipswich Amateur Photographic Society, Ipswich Grammar School Old Boys Association, Ipswich Polo Club, and Ipswich Cemetery Trustees. Often, Pearson Cameron was a member and office bearer of these clubs. He was Mayor of Ipswich in 1917. Sydney University entrance exams and dancing lessons were also conducted in these rooms. 

Hughes & Cameron were agents for Royal Insurance Company.

When David Hughes died in 1875, William Salkeld became the new partner of Hughes & Cameron. In about 1887 when he was just 17 years old, Charles Cameron's son Pearson Welsby Cameron entered the business. Years later, when his father died in 1912, Pearson assumed sole control of the firm until his own death in 1924, when the firm ceased to exist. They were in business 60 years in Nicholas Street. 

H. T. Hooper opened a general supplies store in Hughes & Cameron's building in 1897.   In 1915 West Moreton Cafe (proprietor Jack Black) were tenants of the building. The Commercial Bank of Australia was in the northern half of the building in the 1920s and would eventually own the property.

Deacon Chambers was next door to Hughes & Cameron in the early 20th century. 

The boot shop of Mannix & Co., called The Red House, stood opposite Hughes & Cameron in 1901.

Hughes & Cameron's building no longer exists. Several buildings in this vicinity on Nicholas Street were demolished in 1987 as part of the revitalisation of the Ipswich CBD.