Shaping Our Identity: Growth & Development

Ipswich Agricultural Reserve
In the 1860s, the Queensland Government passed a series of land acts which aimed to regulate the sale of Crown land and encourage small selectors. As part of this initiative, several agricultural reserves were established including the Ipswich Agricultural Reserve.

A water supply was of vital importance for intending settlers, so 11,000 acres of land were reserved on both sides of Warrill Creek, resumed from “Normanby” and “Mount Flinders” Runs. The Reserve was later extended to Purga Creek and south to Milora.

Only 12 new settlers took up land in the Ipswich Agricultural Reserve in the first two years, but the numbers grew steadily. In December 1864, Botanic Gardens curator Walter Hill inspected the Reserve and reported to the Queensland Government. He said that there were now 27 flourishing farms around Warrill and Warroolaba Creeks cultivating mainly oats, maize, tobacco and cotton, and added that their condition should convince the most sceptical person of the capabilities of the soil and climate.

In 1867, a visitor confirmed his opinion of the Reserve:
It is well watered by the Warrell (sic) and other creeks and has in its vicinity large swamps, around which the cattle graze and get fat. The land is some of the very best in the colony, most of it being a reddish brown loam, easily worked, and from 10 to 18 feet in depth.

Another opinion of its importance came from a journalist who commented in 1872 that it was in the Agricultural Reserve that the settlement of the West Moreton region began on a large scale. Many German families settled there, quickly building simple humpies including American-style log cabins while they devoted their energies to clearing and planting crops. Schools and churches were built on the Reserve, and a township developed at Harrisville. Other small townships developed gradually throughout the entire Bremer catchment including Grandchester, Peak Crossing, Walloon, Rosewood and Rosevale.