City of Ipswich - History

History

Ipswich is the second-oldest local government area in Queensland, after Brisbane. On 16 November 1859, after the enactment of the Municipalities Act of 1858 in New South Wales, a petition containing 91 signatures was received by the Governor of New South Wales seeking to have Ipswich, which at the time had 3,000 people, granted municipal town status. The petition was gazetted the following day, and no counter-petition was received.

On 29 November, the letters patent authorised by Queen Victoria which were to make Queensland a separate colony were published in New South Wales, and the petition was forwarded to the new Queensland governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen. On 10 December 1859, the same day that the letters patent were published in Queensland, the petition was regazetted. On 3 March 1860 the Town of Ipswich was proclaimed, and its first elections were held on 19 April 1860, where John Murphy became its first Mayor. The City's corporate logo was designed by Reverend Lacey H. Rumsey, the rector of St Paul's Church in Ipswich in 1861.

The Town applied on 22 November 1904 to become a City, the status being conferred by the Government of Queensland on 1 December 1904 and its first mayor was Hugh Reilly. On its declaration, the City of Ipswich only covered the central area of Ipswich itself—even what are today considered inner suburbs were parts of different entities. These eventually merged to form the Shire of Moreton on 13 October 1916 (initially known as the Shire of Ipswich), which merged into the City on 11 March 1995.

In March 2000, Ipswich ceded some rural territory in Mount Walker, Mutdapilly, Rosevale and Warrill View to the neighbouring Shire of Boonah. Following the major reforms of local government in Queensland, on 15 March 2008, Ipswich lost the largely rural areas of Harrisville and Peak Crossing in its southeast to the new Scenic Rim Region.