Convicts & Colonials: Agriculture & Food Production

Robyn Buchanan wrote in "Five Days at Claremont":

Food was scarce in the early days, and the day book anxiously records the birth or death of even a single sheep, and on Wednesday, December 3rd, 1828 noted "the Settlement put on Half a Ration of Flour this day."

Gradually, grain was cultivated and gardens established. Fruit and vegetables grew well, and the Assistant Colonial Surgeon James Fitzgerald Murray wrote to his sister in Sydney, "Moreton Bay, I do assure you, is a very nice likable place  . . . There is an immense quantity of bananas, yams and sweet potatoes. We get plenty of vegetables every day, abundance of milk, butter twice a week, and fresh meat three times a week.

The Plough Station (Government Agricultural Station)
The settlement at Brisbane was short of supplies and several times had to go on half rations until further food was sent up from Sydney. The authorities in Sydney instructed the commandants including Logan to attempt to be self-sufficient. A farm had been established at Eagle Farm in Brisbane but Logan decided to establish a farm, and a sheep and cattle station at the Limestone Station (Ipswich) which was some distance from the main settlement. His reason for selecting this site is not clear, but perhaps it was to spread the risk, guarding against disease spreading among the animals or a total crop failure.

According to Government regulations, prisoners in Brisbane worked from dawn to dusk, with one hour for breakfast, one hour for dinner in winter, and two hours in summer. Hoes and spades were used rather than ploughs to keep the convicts occupied. It is unlikely that conditions at the Limestone Station were as strict as at Brisbane as it was an outstation, well away from the main settlement. The first convicts sent there were considered to be more reliable prisoners and this probably continued. The restriction on convicts using hoes appears to have been relaxed because Logan sent working bullocks to Limestone. The farm was called "the Plough Station" reinforcing the idea that it was run more efficiently using a bullock and plough. The Plough (Ploughed) Station was on the fertile river flats beside Bundamba Creek, and bounded by present-day Cascade Street, Raceview Street, and Robertson Road.  Corn and wheat was grown at the Plough Station.

There was a tobacco plantation on the slope of the hill now known as Thorn Street to the edge of Devil's Gully. The curing shed was located in East Street and sheep were kept on the north side of town, where the Queensland Woollen Factory was later built. The sheep were washed at Kholo in the Brisbane River and after camping at Hungry Flats (Brassall), the sheep were moved across the Bremer River at Lynch's Crossing (Coal Falls).

The convict era in Moreton Bay was coming to an end in 1830, but the Limestone Station could not be abandoned because sheep and cattle were kept there and the farm was still operating. A few convicts remained behind and in June 1839, George Thorn was appointed as superintendent to take charge of the small settlement.

When George retired from being superintendent of the "cattle establishment," he was succeeded, on July 19, 1839, by John Kent, who was Deputy Assistant Commissary General at Brisbane. The responsibility of the "cattle establishment" was merely an extra to Ken's usual duties in Brisbane. During his supervision, the "establishment" by November 13, 1843, had increased its stock to 1620 cattle and 12,000 sheep. Wool produced was to the value of £1,000 a year at 1/-a lb. Kent's success at that time prompted the authorities in Sydney to give him a gratuity £100 a year, retrospective to the beginning of his appointment as superintendent of the "establishment." [1]

In 1841, Mr. Russell was part of a group visiting George Thorn at Limestone.

The party went out to the ploughed station, where there was a cheerful view of many acres of fine maize. This ploughed station was in the vicinity of the Old Racecourse. It went on to say that: it is interesting to learn that the wheat crop had failed there - a failure, which at the time was attributed to an official order that the grain had to be harrowed over only, and not ploughed in. [2]

Ipswich residents complained about the Government farm in 1847, saying that it was unfair competition for the local graziers and that it closed off the only area close to town where stock could graze. The small herds had increased to 1500 cattle and 2500 sheep, which were sold in February 1848, resulting in the convict era finally ending. An advertisement appeared in The North Australian on 26 April 1859 advertising allotments for sale at the Ploughed Station. It was described as being forty-eight Acres of land at the Ploughed Station, in allotments to suit purchasers. This magnificent piece of land has been in cultivation for many years, and there are neither roots nor stumps in the whole of it.

Chinese Gardens
There were several Chinese market gardens along the river including in Devils Gully, Wharf Street, North Ipswich and West Ipswich. The owners usually sold door to door, with the vegetables carried in baskets slung on poles over their shoulders. These gardens were established in the very early years, and persisted until the 1950s.