Elegance of a Bygone Era.

Saturday week I commenced planning a walk in Ipswich, Queensland's second largest city, just west of Brisbane, for the Hungry Hiker's. The walk was organised around a visit to a shadow puppet event at the Ipswich Art Gallery. Alas, my plans changed with my visit to Bundaberg, so I handed the gathered information to Hiker Leanne. The resulting outing left me wanting to retrace their steps, to see for myself Ipswich's wonderful old Queenslander style homes. 

I suggested to the Gaiter Girls that for our walk yesterday [Monday] this might make a great walk for us. We didn't exactly follow their route, but we did discover street after street of wonderful old homes. I believe we only scratched the surface of the stately homes out there.

 Over the years we have all driven through, or stopped in the city and observed the occasional lovely home, but by taking time to explore away from the city centre, we gained an appreciation for the city that was Ipswich in the latter half of the 1800's. A city that was so prosperous that it was delclared a municipality in March 1860 amd was strongly considered a candidate as the capital of Queensland. It was a wealthy city with productive coal and limestone industries and was a gateway to the rich interior pastoral industries.

1997 saw the last underground mine close and in 2007 there was only one open cut mine still working, resulting in Ipswich going through a period of economic uncertainty.  This, along with its extreme summer and winter temperatures compared to neighbouring Brisbane, made it less desirable until more recent years. 

Ipswich turned 165 years old in March. The local economy is now booming. Young families are now finding homes in Ipswich [alas, not in the homes we passed] and the the city boasts residents from 160 different countries. Thankfully the local government over the years has chosen to save its heritage in these old homes and we were amazed and relieved at how many have a Grade Two listing. Our eyes have been opened in many ways, from this outing.

It is a city of several steep hills.

Just a few of the Grade Two listed homes.

Growing up in the country, pumpkin was a staple of everyone's diet. Interesting to see it growing rampant on the fence of this home.

Such a variety of wonderfully loved homes, with beautiful gardens and on large blocks. It breaks my heart to see the size of today's housing estates.

Three of the cities churches.

After 10 kilometres of exploring, it was time to visit the lovely Kholo Gardens for morning tea and birthday celebrations.

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