Becoming A City: Power & Control

The term “city” conjures up many images today: concrete, traffic lights, a large population, a fast pace of life. But when Ipswich became a city in 1904, it had a population of 8637 people and covered little more than a few CBD blocks. So how and why did the little town of Ipswich become the city of Ipswich?

In Britain, the term city originally had a specific meaning. It was either a cathedral town which was the seat of a bishop, or some other important town which had been created a city by royal charter. In Queensland, the concept of a city did not exist formally before 1902. In this year, the State Government decided to consolidate its existing laws relating to local authorities. The result was a complex bill with 400 separate clauses; it was passed in December and became known as The Local Authorities Act of 1902.

Clause 10 of this legislation stated that there would be two classes of local authority: towns and shires (country districts). It also stipulated that any community could apply to be proclaimed a city. The word city was not clearly defined. There were no formal requirements and each application was to be judged individually on its merits. While the bill was being considered, an amendment was introduced to create three cities as part of the legislation: Brisbane, Rockhampton and Townsville. The explanation given was that Brisbane had already been calling itself a city and, as a courtesy, this would be formalised. Rockhampton and Townsville were important towns and were being made cities because they were sees - places with cathedrals and bishops. The Hon. Berkeley Moreton objected because he thought all the eligible large towns should be made into cities at the same time instead of elevating only three. The Hon. Andrew Barlow thought the whole thing was a little ridiculous in Australia because “a city was a purely ecclesiastical thing: it was the seat of a bishop. In this country, they had no concern with ecclesiastical matters”. In spite of these objections, the amendment was allowed and the Hon. Peter McPherson commented that he expected that other places including Charters Towers, Toowoomba and Ipswich would soon ask to be proclaimed cities.

However there were no practical advantages in becoming a city, for example no extra powers and no extra funding, and for a while, there was little interest in the concept. Then the larger towns realised that there was an advantage simply in the grander title. Toowoomba became a city on 20 October 1904 and its mayor commented: “It might seem that the new designation was just another name, but it had a very practical advantage, in that it gave the community a definite prestige.” Alderman Alfred Stephenson of Ipswich raised the subject at a Council meeting a few days later. Ipswich at that time was a very small municipality of 6.5 sq km in extent – less than Toowoomba. Only Brisbane City proper (4 sq km) and Charters Towers (1.6sq km) were smaller. Stephenson pointed out that the surrounding suburbs such as Workshops Estate, Tivoli, Booval and Bundamba were actually in the neighbouring shires. If these were included, Ipswich would be considerably larger than Toowoomba and would be well justified in being proclaimed a city. Other aldermen pointed out the past and present importance of the town, citing the Railway Workshops, the mines, the only woollen mill in Queensland and the first Grammar school in Queensland.

Another said that in England, a community was considered a city if it possessed a cathedral. The new St Mary’s Church had been blessed only three weeks earlier and, he said, “Ipswich now had a cathedral – so that there was that additional reason for having the town proclaimed a city.”

He was not quite correct because St Mary’s was not a cathedral, but the impressive church was still a powerful influence on local thinking. The motion to apply for city status was passed unanimously by the Council and was quickly granted by the government. On December 2, a telegram was received from the local state parliamentarians, James Blair and William Maughan, stating that the request had already been approved by the Governor-in-Council and a notice would appear in the Government Gazette next day.