Ipswich from Denmark Hill, 1898

News of the day

Queensland Times

Tuesday 14 September 1943

Denmark Hill Floral Treasures

The different measure and rock stratas at the back of Denmark Hill have long been happy hunting grounds for geologists, and the botanist also is well catered for in this area. At present there are several varieties of flowering shrubs in full bloom in various parts of the reserve. "Devil's Rice", a hardy little shrub which bears clusters of white flowers, with occasional branches tinted, not unlike grains of rice, may be seen everywhere. There are gorse-like bushes about 3ft. hihg with a dark yellow flower; and there are isolated clumps of a lavender shrub; but the most spectacular of all is a fair-sized tree (similar to broom) which at present is a mass of golden pea-shaped flowers. In May, June, and early July the reserve is speckled with gold of nearly a dozen different kinds of wattle, and gumtips abound.

Background

This descriptive passage is courtesy of the Jubilee History of Ipswich: A Record of Municipal, Industrial and Social Progress, 1910:

Ipswich is one of the prettiest towns or cities in Queensland. It owes its beauty and its picturesqueness to its hills, and its abundance of foilage. Few finer spots would be desired than the beautiful Queen's Park, on Limestone Hill. From Denmark Hill there is a magnificent view, embracing the whole of the city on one side, and extending to the blue-coloured peaks of the Main Range on the other side. But let others speak on this point. A visiting Sydney Pressman, writing a few weeks ago, said :-

"If you want a light and health-giving air, take train or motor to Ipswich, a town which is to Brisbane as Parramatta is to Sydney, having once been the capital of Queensland, but which unlike Parramatta is now very brisk and very wide awake; which is no doubt owing to the presence of large railway workshops. Ipswich has many hills, and you are told that it is called the modern Athens [...]

The view from Denmark Hill is worth the necessary and rather steep climb; one or two churches are picturesque; but the chief beauty lies in the hills, mainly of trachyte formation, which surround it like a crown, and in the foilage, which abounds everywhere, for this is a most fertile district, with its river flats covered with alluvial soil, which in a volcanic district is especially rich. It is here that you may say every garden has its Jacaranda and planted side by side with it its Grevillea robusta or silky oak, so that the whole town is ablaze with orange and purple, just as the hearts of its citizens, like those of the capital, are burning with a glowing fire of hospitality.

 

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