As a resident of Ipswich, Ray Jones could have been considered somewhat of a pioneer considering the great lengths he went to, to create a personal job and niche for himself within the Ipswich community. As a boy Ray Jones grew up watching his Father, Will Jones, pursue his career with the Ipswich City Vice Regal Band. Although Ray was interested in joining the band it was not to be and instead he developed a a singing career with ABC and often performed on the Ipswich radio station 4IP where he also hosted a literary talk show twice a week.
This all occured during a time when there was little opportunity in Ipswich with relation to employment and when money was scarce and hard to come by. After completing his senior schooling with the Christian Brothers, Ray Jones had little success finding permanent work within Ipswich and found himself freelancing for the Queensland Times and working for Beirnes Ltd. After many hard months he decided to create his own employment opportunites.
An idea had occured to him after seeing an article in a women’s magazine which described the story of a gentleman who started his own ‘travelling library’, and there Ray Jones’ story begins. So, he set off with a port of books on his bicycle, riding around Ipswich looking for borrowers for his books. At this time in Ipswich the Municipal library charged all residents fees when borrowing books from within the collection, which many could not afford to pay. It was no surprise then that after time Ray realised that a larger more practical mode of transport was needed and he purchased a truck. It soon became clear however that this still was not adequate for the people of Ipswich and Ray soon found himself buying and occupying the top floor of the National Bank Building, operating a sucessful and popular library for the residents of Ipswich.
The Ray Jones Library was open every day until 8 o’clock, except Sundays and as readership grew so did the collection and soon he had a staff of six girls working for him. Advertising and cleaniness was the key to a well used collection according to Ray Jones and he prided himself on the appearance of his many books. As well as lending he also sold books to Schools and imported books for Universities within the area.
Ray Jones said that books were his life and that he knew what the people of Ipswich wanted to read. “They loved to read, they enjoyed their reading” he said. So this month when you borrow a book from the Ipswich Library, think of Ray Jones and his amazing contribution to Ipswich – The City of Readers.
Ray Jones – The Lover of Books (Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich )