Ipswich, Queensland Trivia Quiz

Answer: Humid sub-tropical

Also known as a warm temperate climate, Ipswich enjoys hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. Temperatures will generally be cool overnight and you can expect some heavy storms during the summer.

Mean temperatures would range from 24 degrees Centigrade (80 F) in winter through to 35 degrees Centigrade (95.5 F) in summer. Average rainfall is about 760 millimetres (30 inches) each year.

Answer: Red stemmed gum

The red stemmed gum, which is also known as the Sydney red gum, rusty gum or smooth-barked apple, grows proficiently along the banks of the river running through the city of Ipswich.

The name Coodjirar comes from the local Yugarabul language (also known as Ugarapul), one of the two main Aboriginal languages of south-east Queensland. The other is Jagara, also known as Jagera and Yagara. Apart from the Ipswich City Council boundaries, the region for this language also extends to Scenic Rim Regional Council and the Brisbane City Council.

The first European to explore the Ipswich area was Captain Patrick Logan in 1826. Logan was the commander of the Moreton Bay penal colony at the time. The settlement was established a year later with the name Limestone Hills, which would be changed to Ipswich, after the town in England, in 1843.

Answer: Bremer

First explored in 1824, the Bremer River is a 100 kilomtre (61 mile) tributary of the Brisbane River. It has a catchment area of 2,032 square kilometres (785 square miles). Prior to the construction of a railway system between Ipswich and Brisbane, the river served as a vital transport link between the two cities.

Sadly, the river has been extremely downgraded with the Healthy Waterways organization rating it with the lowest possible grading it had at its disposal in 2013. The river is a slow flowing system that is heavily polluted. Slow flowing means that it struggles to flush out its contaminants and can, generally, only do so at times of high flow or when it floods. As a consequence, the water quality is poor, bearing high turgidity, bacteria and nutrient levels. Sewerage and drainage run-off from the City of Ipswich has contributed to this and the pleasing note is that it (the City's council) is taking strides to improve the system and has also instigated a heavy penalty regime for those allowing pollutants to escape into the river.

Answer: True

Flooding is a serious issue and has been known to cause a great deal of damage to the area. The following represent some of the most significant flooding events in the town in recent times.

In February of 1893 the Brisbane River burst its banks on three occasions. The flow on effect (pun not intended) impacted on the Bremer River which burst its own banks, killing seven people stationed at a coal mine just north of Ipswich.

Two people died and thousands of homes were lost in Ipswich when the Brisbane River burst its banks on Australia Day in January of 1974. In January of 2011, the Bremer River rose to almost 20 metres in height which saw the central business district of the town under water and the loss of some 38 lives and thousands of houses. The waters of the last flood were so high that it allowed bull sharks to enter and one was spotted swimming down one of the main streets of the city.

Answer: Coal

The initial discovery that drew settlers to the region, in 1826, was limestone, hence the settlement's original name of Limestone Hills. However, it was the discovery of coal and the establishment of the first mine at Woodend, in 1848, that provided a massive boost to the region's growth.

The first enterprises were small in nature with many being unlicensed set-ups, carting coal away in wheelbarrows. By the 1890s there were several major seams of coal discovered, which evolved into major mining concerns, leading to Ipswich being labelled as "the cradle of coal mining" in Queensland. This growth was not only in population but also infrastructure, the most important being the rail link to Brisbane, associated tramways, highways and a packaged power station.

As a result, secondary industries such as foundries and sawmills began to flourish. Ipswich also boasts a strong agricultural sector as well as abattoirs of note.

Answer: Jacaranda

The Goodna Jacaranda Festival is usually run in October when the town's streets have their jacarandas in full bloom. The show was first run in 1968 and it is a community event that celebrates the diversity and the lifestyle of the region. Running over three days, it features a market place with stalls full of produce, homewares, folk art, collectibles and crafts. Food halls are set up and entertainment is provided by school bands and talent competitions. And, of course, there is also the side-show alley.

Separate to that, the Ipswich Show, controlled by the Queensland Pastoral and Agricultural Society, was first run in 1873 and continues its strong tradition today. The Ipswich Festival is a multicultural event that runs for two weeks in April/May of each year, promoting a variety of music, theatre and art in the region. The Winternationals is a four-day annual drag racing festival, billed as one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, that attracts over 40,000 spectators each year.

Answer: True

Ipswich is the oldest provincial city in Queensland and its history is older than the official declaration of Queensland as a colony, which was proclaimed in 1859.

When the process began to separate Queensland, as a colony, from New South Wales in 1847, the Reverend John Dunmore Lang put forward the argument that Ipswich should become the capital city of the newly formed state. His arguments centred on the region's strong population growth and that its port facilities would be the best placed to provide for the state's colonial and mercantile needs. In what was a two-horse race the nod went to Brisbane.

Ipswich was declared a municipality on March 3, 1860, and its boundaries would be proclaimed 13 days later. The town would be declared a city on December 1, 1904.

Answer: Dinosaur footprints

Two hundred metres below the surface of the Ipswich suburb of Dinsmore, miners were digging their way through a 220 million year-old layer of coal, when they discovered the set of dinosaur footprints. A team of paleontologists, led by Dr Anthony Romilio, analyzed the prints and determined them to be those of a large bodied carnivore that measured three metres in height (at the hips) and ten metres in length. As a comparison, the mighty T.Rex, which would appear on the Earth some 90 million years later, was said to be about 3.25 metres at the hip and about twelve metres in length.

These were not the only dinosaur prints found in the area. Additional footprints were also located in the suburb of Rosewood in Ipswich.

Answer: Cobb & Co

The first mail run awarded to Cobb and Co was on January 1, 1866. By 1902 this system would grow to 42 routes in the state and would cover 8,000 kilometres. This was significant for the state as it would connect a vast network of settlements across one of Australia's largest states.

Cobb and Co's coaches were the fastest vehicle on the roads in those days and they would cover up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) per day. The company's coaches were designed to handle the roughest of terrains and they employed experienced drivers, usually from the United States or Canada. However, by the turn of the century, first the railways, and then the advent of the motor car, significantly reduced the effectiveness of the Cobb and Co coaches and, by 1924, the company decided to call it quits.

The significance of their role in opening up the state should not be undersold and, to commemorate this, the state has reopened the original drive as a scenic tourist attraction. Coaches would take passengers from Brisbane through to Ipswich. For those that wish to go further, a train would take them to Grandchester, then another coach would take them through to Toowoomba.

Answer: Film producers

Ipswich is an architecturally significant area in Australia, bearing some of the country's finest examples of early Colonial/Victorian (1850 onwards) houses as well as the famous Queensland Bungalow which was popularized during the 1930s. To quantify this, there are over 6,000 historically listed sites in the region.

This, coupled with its attractive streetscapes and weather conditions, have made it a strong drawcard for film and television productions. It was the location for the filming of such productions as "The Railway Man" (2013) with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman, Dwayne Johnson's "San Andreas" (2015) and "Inspector Gadget 2" (2003). Other movies to be shot in the city include "Mystery Road" (2013), "Godzilla vs. Kong" (2021) and "We Were Tomorrow", which is in post-production at the time of this writing.