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School of Arts | Town Hall
A meeting held on 31 July, 1850 resolved 'that the present state and position of this rapidly increasing town make it desirable to establish a public institution for the supply of news and the diffusion of knowledge generally'. The same meeting formed the 'Ipswich Literary Institution', its aim to provide a news room and library, with lectures on local politics but not religion. Six days later another meeting established a School of Arts committee, merging with the Library Institution, for the purpose of obtaining the colonial Government subsidy paid to Schools of Arts.
In 1858 the colonial Government was asked to grant land for a permanent School of Arts, and the site of the old Court House and lock-up in Brisbane Street was chosen. The foundation stone was laid on 8 February 1861 by Governor Bowen, who opened the first section on 24 October. This first section consisted of the 'hall and classrooms' built at a cost of £150, and much of the cost had been raised by donations of money and labour. The anticipated 'elegant extension' was added in 1864, taking the building to the Brisbane Street frontage.
Meanwhile in 1860 the Ipswich Municipal Council had applied to the Government for a grant of land on East and Roderick Street for a Town Hall and a depot for tools and other equipment. This request was granted in 1861, but a further request for money to build the town hall was refused, and the ratepayers likewise refused to contribute in 1862. In 1863 the Council decide to ask the School of Arts committee to make an addition to its building for town hall offices. A period of financial difficulty for the School of Arts ensued and finally in 1869 the control of the School of Arts property was transferred to the Council, although Title did not pass to the Council formally for another 25 years. When Council took over the property it included two allotments of 32 perches each, fronting respectively Brisbane and Limestone Streets, a two storeyed brick building fronting Brisbane Street, and a brick entertainment hall and a cottage fronting Limestone Street. The council became one of the tenants in the building, moving there in 1869.
Following the death of Governor Blackall in 1871, a memorial committee presented a turret clock to be erected on the School of Arts building, necessitating the construction of a tower which was essentially installed by the beginning of 1879. In that same year a fountain and column to the commemorate Blackall was erected at the nearby intersection of Brisbane and Nicholas Streets. The memorial clock was later removed to the former Council Chambers at Sandgate, after the neighboring Ipswich Post Office clock tower was built.
The Ipswich City Council eventually outgrew its accommodation in the building and erected new premises in South Street. The School of Arts building was converted to various office and retail uses, with changes being made to the hall's interiors for those purposes.
Since 1999, the former School of Arts and Town Hall has been the home of the home of the Ipswich Art Gallery.
References (offline)Ipswich Heritage Study 1992, Volume 3
Ipswich City Vice-Regal Band, VE Day, outside Ipswich Town Hall, looking towards Cribb & Foote, 1945