Becoming A City: Growth & Development

Ipswich Grows and Moreton is formed
A direct result of the elevation of Ipswich to city status was a proposal to expand the boundaries “to give the city an area commensurate with its dignity and importance.”

An alderman commented that from the Town Hall, it was only a 10-minute walk in any direction to the boundaries of the city. This was a slight exaggeration, but it was certainly true that Ipswich had a severely restricted city area. It was surrounded by numerous small shires including Brassall, Bundamba, Purga, Goolman, Mutdapilly, Lowood, Walloon, Rosewood and Normanby.

With this structure, there were practical reasons for wanting growth. Areas such as Booval, immediately outside the Ipswich boundaries, were in fact popular suburbs and were a potential source of problems and friction in providing infrastructure and services. Bundamba Shire even had to ask Ipswich Council for help in providing trees for Cameron Park; Ipswich politely refused, reluctant to spend ratepayers’ money outside the city. The tiny shires were also at a disadvantage, finding it difficult with their small incomes to buy machinery or appoint professional staff such as engineers. 

Initially, only minor re-allocations were made. In 1905, the boundaries of Walloon and Normanby were changed while Mutdapilly disappeared completely, merging with Rosewood. In 1909, Ipswich actually became smaller, an area being removed and included in Brassall Shire.

In 1912, Council decided to approach the government about enlarging the city area. The major rationalisation eventually took place in 1916 when the “Greater Ipswich” scheme was proposed. Under this scheme, five shires were abolished: Brassall, Bundamba, Lowood, Purga and Walloon.

Parts of Brassall and Bundamba were included in Ipswich City, Lowood was absorbed by Esk and part of Walloon by Rosewood. The remaining rural areas became a new “Shire of Ipswich”. The name was changed to “Shire of Moreton” in 1917.

The changes were not universally popular and a poll in Bundamba, for example, resulted in 735 votes against and only 122 in favour. Local pride and the reluctance of some councillors to lose their seat were involved – one dramatically stated “This proposal is our death-warrant” – but there were more substantial reasons. Ipswich had a debt and the new ratepayers did not want to help pay it off. There were also concerns about levels of representation for new areas and quibbles about minor matters such as residents of outer areas paying for inner city street lighting.

In spite of opposition and misgivings, the changes were gazetted on 13 October 1916. There were minor changes in 1926 and 1930, but no further major changes were made until after World War II.

Ipswich could now pride itself on being a large and substantial local authority, but the City Engineer promptly asked for a car to be provided because of the greater extent of the new boundaries. And it was Ipswich City which ended up looking after Cameron Park. [1]