Convicts & Colonials: Power & Control

The first white residents of Ipswich were convicts and soldiers and the rules governing them were set out in Government Regulations. The convicts lived in a 'stockade' and the soldiers lived in a small hut which was later replaced by a small brick cottage. This small out-station was called Limestone Station, Limestone Hills and Limestone Mountains. The convict era officially ended in 1839 and the number of convicts in Moreton Bay were reduced to 94. Limestone Station continued to operate and George Thorn was appointed overseer in July 1839. George was accompanied by his wife Jane and his young son George Junior. They lived in the small house formerly used as the soldiers' cottage. A second son was born at Limestone Station in 1840. At this time there was a 50 mile exclusion zone around the Moreton Bay penal settlement. George took his instructions from his superiors in Brisbane, for example instructions about when to begin shearing the government sheep. 

George resigned from the Agricultural Department in March 1843 so that he could devote his time to the store and accommodation house that he and Jane had established. He went to Brisbane in October of that year to attend the first land sale of lots in Ipswich. George purchased two lots on the north-west corner of Brisbane and East Streets.

Description of Limestone by Tom Petrie
In this extract, Constance Petrie talks about her father, Tom and her grandfather Andrew Petrie, who was an engineer attached to the settlement at Brisbane (text slightly altered for readability).

My grandfather Andrew Petrie travelled about a great deal. He went to Ipswich to see how the Government sheep and cattle under the management of Mr. George Thorn were doing, also to inspect the limekiln worked by the prisoners there.

To take him about, he had a whale boat manned by a crew of prisoners. Tom recollects well one trip his father made to Limestone with this boat. On this occasion, as an outing for them, Grandfather took his wife and three or four kiddies - my father included. They carried a tent with them in the boat and stopped when they came to the first batch of Government sawyers at work on the river. Tom was carried ashore by one of the boat's crew; then afterwards, the men fixed up the tent for his father.

Next day, they went on again up the river to Limestone, where they stayed a couple of days at Mr. Thorn's house while Andrew Petrie made  his inspections. At that time, Limestone (Ipswich) consisted of Mr. Thorn's house and the yards for the cattle and sheep, also the limekiln and the stockade for the prisoners. On the return journey to Brisbane, Andrew Petrie called in at all the places where men were at work on the river.

People in both Brisbane and Ipswich were not happy about being governed from Sydney and this led to calls for separation from New South Wales. In November 1859, a petition was sent to the Colonial Secretary's Office in Sydney stating that Ipswich with a population of almost 3000 were "desirous of availing themselves of the powers of municipal self-government, and of the endowment connected therewith under the Municipalities Act". Separation from New South Wales was eventually granted in 1859. It meant that Queensland had its own Governor who represented the Queen and who communicated directly with the British Government. More importantly, it meant that Queensland could elect its own Parliament.