Convicts & Colonials: Industry & Manufacturing

The Lime Kiln
The convict limekiln is marked in early maps. It was still useable in 1849 when a bricklayer named Edhouse used it to produce lime to build two cottages in East Street. The kiln was located just inside what is today the ground of "Claremont" on the edge of the railway embankment. It was probably destroyed when the railway line was built to Brisbane in 1875.

Although we don't know exactly what it looked like, most lime kilns of that era were built on the same basic principal. In England, many simple kilns were constructed on building sites. The typical English kiln was often dug into the ground or into the side of a hill. It was shaped like an inverted cone and was lined with bricks or rock. At the bottom was a grating of loose iron bars. The kiln was loaded with layers of limestone pieces and fuel which would have been wood in the early days. The limestone was burned and as the quicklime was formed, it dropped through the grating and was removed through a side tunnel. More limestone and fuel could then be added at the top. Cunningham said 300-400 baskets of lime were produced at Ipswich in 1828 and sent to Brisbane Town each week.

An Ipswich contractor William Hancock built another kiln in 1864 on Limestone Hill near Cunningham's Knoll.

Coal Mining
The Commandant of the Moreton Bay penal settlement Patrick Logan noticed coal seams in the riverbanks in early 1827 and, as discussed in Chapter 2, he mentioned in a letter in July 1828 that:

There are great quantities of Lime Stone and Coal on Bremer Creek about 45 miles from Brisbane Town. I think a number of hands might be usefully employed in preparing and transporting these articles…

Coal was also marked in three places on Allan Cunningham’s first map of the Bremer in late 1828. These were at present- day Tivoli; near the Town Reach; and between the Brisbane and Bremer Rivers. The same year, botanist Charles Fraser described the coal discoveries:

Numerous beds of coal, lying in veins of considerable thickness, are adjacent to the lime; they jut out from the banks of the streams, and fall into the Bremer within a few yards of its tide mark.

There are unsubstantiated claims that coal was mined in a small way during the convict era and this is likely, although probably on a very small, primitive scale.

The first verifiable coal mine in Queensland was on the banks of the Brisbane River at Redbank. This was opened by John Williams about 1843. The first recorded coal mines on the Bremer were at Woodend Pocket. “Coal allotments” of about one hectare were sold in 1848 but were not very successful. In 1850, Samuel Sutchbury reported that only one was being worked, and this was by only two men, the coal being carried out by wheelbarrow. The opening to this mine is still discernible on the riverbank. Several unlicensed mine openings had also been scratched out at this time at the “coalfalls” (near the suburb of this name) and at Tivoli.

Industrial Villages - Boiling Down
One of the early industries along the Bremer River was boiling down, a malodorous and polluting process. These works invariably had a riverside location for easy transport of the bulky products, and some of the works offered free freight to Brisbane as an incentive to customers. The river also provided a water supply for the boilers. The first boiling-down works in Moreton Bay were established at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane in 1843 as a response to a severe financial depression. There was a poor market for stock, so boiling down the unwanted carcasses to make tallow became a viable option for squatters.

Boiling down remained in favour even when financial conditions improved. Grazing properties began to produce more animals than the population required as meat, and there was no refrigeration to preserve unwanted carcasses. However there was a good and constant export market for tallow which was used to make candles and soap. The Moreton Bay Courier commented that tallow commanded a steadier price than wool in the London market, and that:

the ease, certainty and rapidity with which cattle and sheep may by this means be converted into an article possessing immediate marketable value, will almost under any circumstances cause it to be more and more resorted to in every succeeding year.

There was a definite “boiling-down” season for about six months each year, beginning in late January or early February, presumably when the cattle and sheep were fat after a good summer. The works employed a large number of people in a variety of tasks. Some herded animals, then slaughtered them. Others removed and salted cattle hides and removed fleeces for sale. Butchers cut up the meat. In some works, the very tender cuts were sold and tongues were salted, while in others, a greater proportion of the meat was salted for sale or export. The remainder of the carcase was boiled in large “try pots” until all the fat was separated. This was then run out through pipes to be stored in casks made on the premises. Using steam rather than simple boiling pots increased the efficiency of the process. Bones were sometimes ground down to make fertiliser.

The first boiling down in the Ipswich area was carried out in 1844 at the Plough Station where the Government was having difficulty selling its stock. Some prime pieces of meat were salted and the remainder was boiled down for tallow.

In early 1847, Robert King and John Campbell both established boiling-down works at Long Pocket on the Bremer. An early customer was the Plough Station which arranged for its stock to be sent there instead of doing the work itself. The same year, R. J. Smith purchased an establishment at Kangaroo Point and a year later, decided to move to the Bremer.

Warrill Boiling Down Works
Hugh Allen arrived in Ipswich to take charge of the new boiling down works for the Aberdeen Company in November 1848. It was the fourth works of this kind to be established in the Ipswich area and was situated on the Bremer River about 3 or 4km downstream from Ipswich.

In 1851, Rev J. D. Lang visited “the Aberdeen Company Boiling Down Works” and its “intelligent Superintendent Mr. Allen” who said the establishment began operations in 1849 and could boil down 50 cattle or 700 sheep a day. Apart from tallow, the works processed hides and skins, and produced neatsfoot oil from the feet of the animals (used for treating leather).

Town Marie
Town Marie was established in 1847-48 when Richard Joseph Smith moved his boiling-down works from Kangaroo Point to the banks of the Bremer River. The works were named after Smith’s wife. A description of Town Marie when it was later offered for sale indicates that it eventually included a wharf with a crane, a boiling down works, a sawmill and a bone-mill for producing bone dust fertiliser. The buildings were hardwood with corrugated iron roofs. There was also a substantial house with stables, pig sty, dairy, horse yards and gardens, plus a number of workers’ cottages. Timber for the sawmill arrived by river and a steam winch and tramways were used to haul the logs to the mill.

Bremer Mills
Bremer Mills was a diverse establishment built on the riverbank at Bundamba, almost opposite Town Marie. A new employee said that he was surprised to find such a big enterprise “in the midst of so much wilderness”. The works were started in 1850 by Gorrick and Fleming. Within a few years, the Bremer Mills included a sawmill, boiling-down works and a large flour mill. The latter was a substantial three-storey structure of dressed sandstone from Fleming’s quarry nearby. The façade was decorated with a clock and a carved date “Erected 1856”. The sawmill worked during the day and the flour-mill at night until the machinery was duplicated.

Timber Industry and Sawmills
In the immediate Ipswich area, timber was cut mainly along the Brisbane River and at Pine Mountain. Early sawmills along the Bremer including John Stevens at Booval; John Byrne, Richard Seymour, James Reilly and Alexander Leslie at North Ipswich; and those attached to the boiling-down works.

Jacob Spresser, the son of an early sawyer at Steven’s sawmill, recalled that the logs for that mill came from Pine Mountain as rafts and were drawn from the river to the pits by bullock teams. After sawing, the boards were then taken into Ipswich by drays or by Chinese men who carried the timber on their shoulders. Some logs were also transported directly to the mills by dray or bullock team from Pine Mountain.