Convicts & Colonials: Infrastructure & Utilities

Early Infrastructure and Utilities
Very little in the way of infrastructure and utilities existed in the convict settlement of 'Limestone'. Roads as we know them didn't exist as the first surveys of the land were not undertaken until the early 1840s. The Bremer River was 'the road', and travellers as well as goods were transported between Brisbane and Ipswich by boat.

Out best source of information about what Ipswich was like in the early colonial era can be found in the pages of early newspapers.

The Empire in 1855 carried an article about Moreton Bay that compared Brisbane and Ipswich. 

The streets are in a wretched state of disrepair, and some parts of Brisbane-street are so precipitous as to be positively dangerous of a dark night. It is stated the the sum of £100 was voted three or four years back for the repair of these streets, and that only lately, since it was known that the Governor-General intended to visit the district, has it been expended. 

One source of water were the pumps on Bremer Street, Messrs. Panton's wharf, from below St Mary's, and from the bridge.  By January 1859, 2000 casks per week of water were being taken from the Bremer Street pumps, retailing at one shilling per cask.  The North Australian described the water supply as 'inefficient, impure, and intermitting, troublesome to obtain, and not unfrequently nauseous or saline.'