W. G. Johnston, Grocer

William George Johnston was an early settler in the Ipswich region who was a successful businessman, and council alderman for the East Ward from 1899-1901. From very early days he  involved himself in local affairs, including the Ipswich Hospital. In the 1870s he selected acres of land and later applied for a mining lease.

From at least the 1870s (but likely dating from much earlier) W.G. Johnston kept a general store or grocery store in Brisbane Street, Ipswich. He lived in Brisbane Street as well. In June 1876 a shop that Johnston had previously occupied was sent to auction. It featured two rooms, a brick chimney, cart shed and one hundred feet of frontage to the main street. The following year Johnston requested tenders be submitted for the erection of a new 2-storey brick house and shop in Brisbane Street. Hugh McQuaker, another early settler, successfully tendered to supply the brickwork for the shop.

W.G. Johnson was a storekeeper who dabbled in real estate. He owned commercial premises in Brisbane Street, opposite the Palais Royal Hotel and adjoining the Qld National Bank, that were destroyed by fire in 1902  and quickly rebuilt as a 2-storey brick structure that housed three or four businesses including the Misses Whitehead's stationery & bookselling establishment. 

At the age of about 78, W.G. Johnston decided to retire. Hughes & Cameron, Auctioneers were engaged to clear his stock-in -trade and furniture in May 1914. His grocery store had been a constant presence in Brisbane Street for over forty years (and probably much longer). Mr Johnston's final years were spent at Wareham, Mortimer Street, Ipswich.