Boom & Bust: Architecture - Victorian

"Red Gum" who wrote articles for the Queensland Times,  lamented the loss of historical buildings in Ipswich in 1896.

"As time rolls on with stealthy steps apace," the stability of Ipswich is becoming more pronounced, and the oldest inland town in Queensland is gradually assuming the dignity of a city of wealth. It is now sixty-nine years old. Its ancient name of Limestone is nearly forgotten, although now and again one may hear it crop up. Older Ipswich, too, is being quietly deleted. Early residents and old landmarks are becoming scarcer. Indeed, there are few evidences of the splendid-time periods—periods when, if a man had his hat full of money, he would probably not have actually a pound sterling! Those were the times of the "I.O.U.'s." The last pillars of the first railway station built in Queensland—that erected in Ipswich in March, 1866—were razed to the ground on Tuesday, the 9th of June, 1896; and now the last link which connected the present generation with the far-off periods of 1842 has been severed. The Caledonian Hotel, in Bell-street—the first wooden building ever erected in Ipswich, by the late Mr. William Vowles— is now being removed to make room for a more commodious two-storey brick structure. If some of the timbers of that oldest of landmarks could only speak, what wonderful tales would be unfolded—what marvellous revelations they would make!