James Ivory – image courtesy of Picture Ipswich

The Local History room holds in its microfilm collection, the diaries of James Ivory. These diaries have also been digitised and are available via Picture Ipswich.

James Ivory was a pastoralist and diarist. He arrived in Australia from Scotland, in October 1840 at the ripe old age of twenty. Three years later, he took out a squatting license for Eskdale run near Ipswich with his friend David Graham. From these early beginnings, he prospered and held over 18 000 acres in Bundamba, Ipswich.

He experimented with growing sugar cane and other tropical crops, as well as cotton. He bought the Bremer Mills property and owned a dairy. His great love was breeding horses and he was well known for the quality of his horses.

He died on the 11 March 1887 at the age of 67.