Ipswich Grammar School
An early image of the Ipswich Grammar School
[John Oxley Library neg. 18409]
The population of Ipswich in its early days was much concerned with the provision of education, so as soon as The Grammar Schools Act of 1860 was passed, subscriptions were begun for a grammar school.
The original school building was designed by Benjamin Backhouse, and opened by Governor Sir George Ferguson Bowen on 25th September 1863, making it the oldest 'Greater Public School' in Queensland.
A contemporary observer, visiting from England was
"forcibly struck with the absurd manner in which English architecture is copied, particularly in public buildings. On arriving in Ipswich, I was astonished to see, perched on a hilltop, a red brick Gothic building, with the high pitched roof and narrow windows which characterise such buildings in cold countries. Not only were there no verandahs, to protect from the sun's rays, but the bedrooms were upstairs, just under the roof, and having scarcely any windows, were hardly ever cool."
A visit to Queensland, C.H. Allen, London, Chapman and Hall, 1870
QuickTime panorama | Static panorama | Claremont | Court House | Ipswich Hospital | Ipswich Railway Station | St Stephen's Presbyterian Church
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Last updated: 10th August 2011
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