Patrick Logan and Limestone Hills (Ipswich)

Captain Patrick Logan, the second Commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement, arrived in the colony on 17 March 1826 and held the position until 1830. During his command he initiated a series of inland explorations that led to the establishment of the first branch convict station away from Brisbane.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser of Friday, 17 August 1827 recounted:

Journal of Captain Logan's pedestrian Tour, in the neighbourhood of Moreton Bay, in the month of June, 1827.
June 7th. - Left the settlement at 4 o'clock in the morning, proceeded up the Brisbane, and arrived at the limestone hills, on the left branch, at 10 o'clock at night; distance, 57 miles.

In this account, there is no mention of European settlement at the Limestone Hills. However, on Wednesday, 21 November 1827, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser advised readers that:

We have been informed that Capt. Logan has discovered, about sixty miles up the Brisbane River, abundance of coal and chalk, and that a party of men are now employed in digging for the former. Very fine specimens of both have been received at Moreton-bay.

Two publications dating from 1895 record the establishment of a branch convict station at a place known as "Limestone" (present-day Ipswich) in 1827. The early Queensland historian J. J. Knight recorded that Logan named the locality "Limestone" on 19 December 1826, following his exploration of the Bremer River, and that he discovered coal there on 8 June 1827. These dates were included in Knight's In the early days : history and incident of pioneer Queensland (1895), where they appear in his chronological Table of Events.

Archibald Meston, in Geographic History of Queensland (1895), similarly stated that Captain Logan, established a branch station at Limestone in 1827. He noted that land now occupied by the Ipswich Racecourse*, was placed under cultivation with oats, maize, and potatoes, and that limestone was burned at "Limestone Hills" and shipped downriver to Brisbane for use in constructing stone buildings.

Meston further quoted from a manuscript by the botanist Allan Cunningham to Governor Darling, written in 1828. Cunningham recorded that:

In the year 1827, Captain Logan, of the 57th Regiment, then Commandant of Morton Bay, in tracing the Bremer from its junction with the Brisbane, discovered at ten miles from that point the calcareous hummocks now named Limestone Hills.

Cunningham described Logan’s fascination with the distinctive grass trees (Xanthorrhoea) at the site, which the Commandant likened to “beehives elevated on stools.” He went on to state that several months after this discovery a limekiln was constructed, and a small party of convicts, comprising an overseer experienced in sapping and mining, and five men, were stationed there to commence lime‑burning.

The first lime‑burning party consisted of a corporal, three soldiers, and five convicts. During a river journey, one soldier and one convict were killed by Aboriginal people at a place later known as the Rocks, at Figtree Pocket. The deaths occurred on 16 March 1828 and were recorded as those of Private Thomas Callan and convict Samuel Bates (ex Eudora). This incident highlights the dangers faced by early parties operating beyond the main settlement at Brisbane.

During the penal period the area now known as the Ipswich Racecourse was referred to as the “Ploughed Station” and was cultivated with wheat, maize, and potatoes.

Later historical commentary continued to support the 1827 date for the establishment of Limestone. An article in the Queensland Times of 4 July 1939, reflected that if Captain Logan could revisit the spot upon which he stood on 7 June 1827, he would scarcely recognise its later development. The article stated that settlements were established at Redbank and Limestone between 1827 and 1838.

Louise R. Cranfield in her paper "Life of Captain Patrick Logan" read before the Royal Historical Society of Queensland on 23 July 1959, affirmed that around 1827 Logan founded a branch station at Limestone. She reiterated that the land occupied by the Ipswich Racecourse was cultivation with maize, oats, and potatoes, and that limestone quarried and burnt at the site was transported by water to Brisbane. This material was used in the construction of several early colonial buildings, including the Old Treasury (formerly Logan's military barracks), the treadmill (now the Observatory), and the lower floor of the State Stores Building (Commissariat Store). 

An article published in The Sunday Mail  in 1932, "The Story of Queensland 1770-1859" similarly recorded that in 1827 Logan traced the Bremer River for ten miles from its junction with the Brisbane River and discovered calcareous hummocks on its right bank, which he named Limestone Hills. Six months later, a kiln was erected and convicts were dispatched under an overseer to begin lime‑burning.

J. G. Steele in Brisbane Town in the convict days 1824-1842 provided a precise sequence of events. He wrote that lime for early Brisbane buildings had previously been produced by burning sea shells, but in about March 1827 Logan explored the Bremer River and discovered limestone deposits at what is now Ipswich. A specimen was sent to Sydney for assessment in April 1827, and by June or July a kiln had been constructed and the settlement of Limestone Hills established.

Collectively, these sources indicate that while exploratory activity occurred earlier, the formal establishment of the Limestone branch station, and the commencement of lime‑burning, took place during 1827 (likely in the latter half of the year), marking European arrival to the area now known as Ipswich.

*In 1895 the Racecourse was located at present-day Eastern Heights near the Grange and Robertson Road intersections.