In Warwick – the beginnings post I wrote about discovery and exploration of Darling Downs by Allan Cunningham in 1827 and settlement by Patrick Leslie in 1840. Today I will write about Warwick’s history after it was declared a municipal in 1861. For 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the municipality in 2011 Queensland State Archive prepared the online exhibition with photos and documents related to Warwick that are in their collection.

When doing research for this and previous blog post I found a lot of fascinating stories. I wasn’t aware that small town 130 km from Brisbane is a place where many important events in state and national scale happened. I’m glad I decided to write about Warwick as it is another step to discover and understand Australia.

Warwick City, Founded On Courage And Faith

1938 ‘Warwick City, Founded On Courage And Faith’, The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 – 1939), 5 October, p. 5, viewed 8 August, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page2464300

In Warwick Special of The Queenslander from 1938 I found very interesting article (above) by Firmin Mckinnon where he described early days of Warwick:

The site of township was chosen in 1847. Two years later the first survey was made by Mr J. C. Burnett who surveyed Drayton, Toowoomba and many other early Queensland towns; and the first allotment of land, a block of half an acre , was bought in July, 1850 by Patrick Leslie for £8. (…) Thus it was that Warwick, the oldest town on the Darling Downs, began its history.

The big stations needed supplies and supplies meant business houses. Almost immediately two stores and hotel were built. (…) In all of the early Queensland towns one of the first buildings was a hotel. in Warwick the first hotel was a much more imposing building than the first hotels in any of the other towns. This was an important meeting place for the squatters and and business men of the town. The Warwick of those faraway days, unlike the splendid city of to-day, was essentially a sheepman’s town.

Warwick was to be the centre of a great industry, and so its first buildings were two stores, a hotel, a blacksmith’s shop, a carpenter’s shop, and a pit-sawyer’s shed and shop. When Warwick’s first municipal council was elected in 1861 the place was a scented wilderness. Within few months it had cut several roads and was arranging for a bridge across the Condamine.

1861 – electric telegraph opened

In November 1861 the electric telegraph line was opened for public, Warwick was the last town on the line in Queensland. Correspondent of Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser wrote about this advanced technology:

“We are expecting to be in instantaneous communication with Sydney by the electric telegraph in a day or two. The line is open to the public as far as Warwick, the most remote station on our side of the boundary; and I may next letter, have the pleasure of sending you the news from either Sydney, Melbourne, or Adelaide, which will be only few minutes old when I dispatch it. Verily, we live in eventful times. I don’t despair of sending a telegraphic message to England yet!”

Unidentified. Post Office in Warwick, Queensland, Ca. 1875, 2005. [John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland]

1871 – opening of the Southern railway line

The first rail line in Queensland was opened in 1865 and connected Ipswich with Grandchester (then Bigge’s Camp), two years later the second stage to Toowoomba was opened, and line reached Warwick in 1871. On 10 January 1871 very important event took place and excited not only inhabitants of Warwick but also those from Brisbane who traveled on first trains. Correspondent of The Brisbane Courier on 23 January 1871 wrote about the opening of Warwick Railway:

Of course it was a holiday in Warwick and some seven or eight hundred of the inhabitants of the town and district assembled at the station to welcome their visitors. Each train was heartily cheered as it came up, and by degrees the excursionists mingled with the contended looking happy faced Warwickites. (…) The number of visitors by train was about three hundred.(…)

The Mayor and alderman of the town, who presented the following address: “(…) The opening of the line of railway to Warwick will ensure us regular and speedy communication with the metropolis, and it cannot fail to be a source of increasing prosperity to this beautiful district, by developing its agricultural, pastoral, and mining interests.

Unidentified 1875, Railway buildings and Mill Hill Station at Warwick, Queensland, ca.1875 [John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland]

The first “Warwick” railway station opened in 1871 was located on the northern side of the Condamine River, due to the cost of potential construction of bridge over the river. The station’s name was changed to ‘Millhill’ in 1888. In July 5, 1881, with the extension of the railway to Stanthorpe, a platform for passengers had been established at ‘East Warwick’ on the southern side of the river. [source]

Southern and Western Railway: Station Master’s house at Warwick, February 1880 [Queensland State Archives, Digital Image ID 12306

1936 – “Warwick Our Newest City”

Throughout the years administrative status of Warwick has changed. It started as Borough of Warwick constituted on 25 May 1861. Under the “Local Authorities Act of 1902” all Municipal Councils became Town Councils; Warwick Municipal Council became Warwick Town Council on 31 March 1903. Then Warwick City was established on 4 Apr 1936 and Warwick Shire was formed by merging Warwick City and Allora, Glengallan and Rosenthal Shires from 1 Jul 1994. The latest change was on 15 March 2008 when Warwick Shire amalgamated with Stanthorpe Shire to form the Southern Downs Region.

1936 ‘Warwick Our Newset City’, The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 – 1939), 9 July, p. 24, viewed 10 August, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page2583882

1892 – Jackie Howe a legendary Australian sheep shearer

In the same year as the municipality was declared the legendary sheep shearer was born at Canning Downs Station. John “Jackie” Robert Howe was born probably on 26 July 1861. His mother Louisa, had come to Queensland as a companion to the wife of Patrick Leslie (the first settler in area, mentioned in previous post).

Unidentified 1892; Jack Howe, in 1892, when he made his shearing record. [John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland]

Jackie is best know of breaking the daily and weekly shearing records across the colonies in 1892. On 10th October, he shore 321 weaners with the blades at Alice Downs and in the previous week he had shorn 1437 sheep in 44 hours. In January 1893 his achievements were recognized by receiving an inscribed shearing machine from the Wolseley Shearing Machine Co. – which was sold at auction for $38,000 two years ago.

1892 ‘LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.’, Warwick Argus (Qld. : 1879 – 1901), 29 October, p. 2, viewed 15 August, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article76641209

1915 – Dungarees march

During World War 1 Australian Imperial Forces consisted of volunteers and in 1915 recruiting committees were formed in nearly every town throughout Australia. In New South Wales to increase numbers of volunteers some men who had determined to enlist started off to march to Sydney.

The Dungarees were answering a call for troops from Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes following the shocking loss of life and casualty count from Gallipoli. Ten such marches were conducted, the first – and most famous – being the Cooee March which began in Gilgandra, New South Wales in October 1915. The south-east Queensland march followed the Cooee example.

1915 ‘RECRUITING MARCH.’, Queensland Times (Ipswich) (Qld. : 1909 – 1954), 20 November, p. 10 Edition: DAILY, viewed 16 August, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113115339

The Dungarees March was the only one “snowball” recruitment march in Queensland. 28 men left Warwick on 16 November 1915 on a march to Brisbane. At each town speeches were made, recruits were sought – and the men were feted and fed by the locals. I found very detailed itinerary in Queensland Times from 20th November 1915 – link here. The 270 kilometre march ended in Brisbane, with 125 young men arriving to a tumultuous civic reception.

Unidentified 1915; The Dungarees marched from Warwick to Brisbane. [John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland]

1917 – The ‘Warwick Egg Incident’

As mentioned above during World War 1 Australian Imperial Forces were composed of volunteers. While at the beginning of World War 1 number of volunteers to enlist for the AIF was huge, as the war progressed the numbers dropped. The Labor Government under Prime Minister Billy Hughes asked Australians to “grant the government the power to compel citizens to serve overseas during the current war”. First Referendum in 1916 was narrowly defeated. Before the second one in 1917 campaign was as hot as before the first Referendum. In November 1917 Hughes on his way back from Brisbane to Sydney stopped by at Warwick.

1917 ‘RIOTOUS OUTBREAK.’, The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), 30 November, p. 7, viewed 17 August, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155179071

Below is The Warwick Egg Incident described at at Australian Federal Police’s brochure.

On 29 November 1917, then Prime Minister William “Billy” Hughes, a passenger on a mail train from Brisbane to Sydney, briefly stopped at the rural Darling Downs town of Warwick to address a large crowd about the pending referendum on military conscription. Two eggs were thrown at Hughes by local scallywags, one of the eggs knocked the Prime Minister’s hat off. Immediately there was “tumult, excitement and confusion” during which “arms and fists could be seen working vigorously” on one of the offenders. The Prime Minister attempted to involve himself in the donnybrook but was dragged to safety by a plain clothed Queensland Police Senior Sergeant. Although ushered away from the Prime Minister, one of the offenders returned and gesticulated at the flustered Prime Minister as he commenced his speech. Hughes again attempted to set upon the man, an action that resulted in another brief mêlée in which the offender was arrested. As he was leaving, Hughes demanded that the offender be charged with a Commonwealth offence. The Senior Sergeant indicated that a state offence was preferable, a position that enraged Hughes to the point where he told the Sergeant that he would be “dealt with”. (…)  Hughes felt the best way to protect Commonwealth interests and prevent insurrection was the establishment of a Commonwealth Police Force (CPF)

Former Premiers of Queensland

There are two former Premiers of Queensland born in Warwick. Arthur Morgan was born on 19 September 1856 at Rosenthal station.  He served as a 16th Premier of Queensland from 1903 to 1906, his government was a combination of some of the liberals and the Labour party. The 37th Premier of Queensland was Anna Bligh from 2007 to 2012. She was the first woman to be appointed Premier of Queensland.