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Mining
The
Railway
What began with Captain Patrick Logan’s expedition in 1827, where
he found limestone and coal adjacent to the Bremer River, grew
into an industry that helped shape Ipswich’s identity well into the
twentieth century.
The 1880s saw coal mining grow into a significant industry attracting
many immigrants from coal mining areas of England and Wales. The
increasing number of steam engines used in boats, trains, mills and
works needed coal as fuel. This considerable activity didn’t mean
that the industry was always profitable and limited markets,
competition from southern mines and an inability to rapidly fill big
orders sometimes saw the industry struggle. After Federation, the
new Queensland Government helped to turn the industry around
by improving the loading facilities at the South Brisbane wharves
and provided incentives for coal export. This action provided
improvements in the industry and by 1909, Queensland coal was in
high demand both with outside purchasers and the growing railway
system. By 1904, Ipswich was seen as the coal mining area of
Queensland responsible for twenty per cent of its total production
and employing1002 of the state’s 1336 miners
The fortunes of Ipswich’s mining industry ebbed and flowed
Ipswich is the birthplace
of rail in Queensland.
The first line was launched
in 1865 and ran between
Ipswich and Grandchester
(then known as Bigges
Camp). As far back as 1914,
the Railway Workshops employed 1500 workers, more than all the
mines in the area combined, and by 1960 they employed 2500
people. Despite Ipswich’s strong identification with the coal
mining industry, it was the Railway Workshops that remained
consistently the single biggest employer throughout the twentieth
century.
Rail was vitally important to the Ipswich economy. There were
many smaller networks (branch lines and tramways) crisscrossing
Ipswich itself, designed mainly to transport coal from local mines to
waiting barges to carry coal to powerhouses in Brisbane and to
export facilities. As far back as the early 1900s, the main lines were
already being used as a commuter network. “Workers’ trains” ferried
men between the Workshops at North Ipswich and Grandchester
and Brisbane with around 700 men using the train daily.
The Railway Workshops produced locomotives for the home and
overseas market and were state-of-the-art for their time.
Innovations to improve productivity were consistently
implemented though working life was very hard. In the early days
of the Workshops, there were no amenities for the workers,
nowhere to wash, to eat or to put their clothes. In 1914, a new
dining room was opened for the men but before this time when
the whistle blew for lunch at 12 noon, the men would just sit in the
workshop amongst the grime and dirt to eat. The work was hard
and often dangerous. A day off for illness meant a day without pay
so men went to work sick and injured. Around this time, unions
began to form in response to these difficult working conditions
and they were able to bargain for a safer and fairer workplace.
1843:
John Williams opens the first
recorded coal mine beside the river
at Redbank.
1848:
A mine opens at Woodend.
1854:
Mines open at Tivoli.
1861:
First strike in Queensland by
miners at the Redbank Mine.
1865:
Goodna Mine opens.
1905:
First electric coal cutters are
used in Ipswich at Box Flat.
1910:
A Mines Rescue Brigade is
established at North Ipswich.
1928:
The Redbank Mine disaster
killed three men.
1945:
Four men died in an explosion
at the Ebbw Vale No. 3 Mine at
Woodend.
1946:
Five miners killed at various
mines around the Ipswich region.
1950:
Around 1900 people are
employed in Ipswich’s mines
producing 58 per cent of
Queensland’s coal.
1952:
Mining ended at the City
Colliery in what is now Denmark
Hill Conservation Park.
“... we, in common with the whole community, hail with pleasure
the inauguration of the Railway in Queensland”
- Brisbane Courier, Monday 24 July 1865
16 Ipswich 150: 1860 – 2010
Proud Past - Exciting Future
Blackheath Coal