Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I speak tonight about the Ipswich Historical Society. On 6 March 2010, I had the privilege and pleasure of being at the Cooneana Heritage Centre open day. Present was the member for Oxley, Bernie Ripoll; Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale; and a number of other distinguished guests, including Peter Casa, the manager of Casa Engineering. We officially opened the Cribb and Foote memorial gates as a tribute to the central role played by that store in the development of Ipswich. In addition, Mr Andrew Vickers, the general secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union in Queensland, was present and I want to pay tribute to the CFMEU for their fantastic support in the restoration of the family home of Mr Jim Donald.

Who was Jim Donald? Jim Donald was an MLA in Queensland and a past secretary of the mines union in Queensland. The lounge and dining rooms are in their original state and will feature photographs of past presidents and secretaries of the miners union, including my old mate and a neighbour of mine, ‘Digger’ Murphy, who was the president of the miners union in Queensland for a long time—back in those days it was called the coalminers federation. The residence highlights the importance of the state coalmining industry to Ipswich, which is celebrating its 150th year as a municipality.

Coalmining is important to Ipswich and has been for a long time. Ipswich was first settled back in the convict era in 1827. Coal was required for the steam engines employed in boats, trains, mills and works. In the 1870s, Ipswich enjoyed a great boom time. Miners swelled the population of the Ipswich area. Indeed, on the Ipswich crest, the motto is ‘Be confident when doing right’, and the implements of the coal industry are found on the crest. In fact, coalmining implements are also found on the crest of my old high school, Bundamba State Secondary College, which proudly displays the motto ‘Success with honour’. In 1949, the Moreton field, as it was known, was still the largest producer of coal in Queensland, with 67 small mines yielding 47 per cent of the state’s output. By 1960, the railway workshops at North Ipswich employed 2½ thousand people, while the coalmining industry engaged 3,000 and the woollen mills another thousand. To put this in context, there were 43,200 people living in Ipswich at the time—now it is a booming city, the fastest growing city in South-East Queensland, with 165,000 residents—and there were 3,000 people working in the coalmining industry out of that population.

Jim Donald is a very famous Ipswich resident. He was born at Redbank and the Cooneana Heritage Centre is located at Redbank Plains, just down Redbank Plains Road. Jim Donald was born in Redbank in Ipswich in 1895. He was first elected to the Queensland state parliament on 22 May 1946. He died on 4 May 1979. He served as the MLA for Bremer from May 1946 to May 1960 and continued as the Labor MLA for Ipswich East until his retirement on 17 May 1969. His 23-year career in politics was highlighted by his promotion to the illustrious position of Leader of the Opposition in Queensland in 1958. He received his primary education at Redbank in Ipswich state schools before becoming a cabinet-maker and later entering the mining industry as a winding engine driver. Donald became very active within the union movement during that time and became the state secretary of what was known in those days as the Queensland Colliery Employees Union, now known as the Mining and Energy Division of the CFMEU.

The state government named a public housing development in Central Ipswich after Jim in July 2006, so it is a very important monument for Ipswich. I pay tribute to the CFMEU and Andrew Vickers, whose father was also involved in coalmining. Coalmining has been an important part of the city of Ipswich for such a long period of time. I pay tribute to all those people in the historical society, which was created in 1966, particularly to Ian Wilson, the president of the historical society, and to the great workers at the Cooneana Heritage Centre. Congratulations to them, to the CFMEU and to the people of Ipswich on 150 years as a municipality. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.

See this speech in context