Blackstone is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

in the City of Ipswich,

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In the , Blackstone had a population of 1,144 people.

History

The district was originally called Bundamba Creek but this caused confusion with nearby Bundamba, so the postmistress Mrs Orr proposed the name Blackstone, believed to be a place in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The area is renowned for its mining history and in 1866 Welshman

Lewis Thomas Lewis Thomas (November 25, 1913 – December 3, 1993) was an American physician, poet, etymologist, essayist, administrator, educator, policy advisor, and researcher. Life and career Thomas was born in Flushing, New York and attended Princ ...

established one of the first mines in the area. Blackstone has a rich Welsh history with

having populated the community with Welsh miners and their families, who in turn established their own Cambrian choir and church in 1886, a School of Arts in 1891, a Soccer club in 1890, and public school in 1887. After switching to mining at Dinmore in 1870, Thomas returned to open his first Aberdare Mine in 1876 and prospered thereafter. In 1881 the government granted him permission to build a private railway which developed by 1903 into a loop line connecting the mines from: * Bundamba to Redbank: * Blackheath * Box Flat * Fairbank * Aberdare * Bogside * No 2, Mafeking * Denham * Swanbank * Bonnie Dundee * Rhondda * Whitwood *New Chum. Blackstone Congregational Church was established in 1879 and was designed by architect Will Haenke. The church originally faced Thomas Street, but circa 1900 a new church building was constructed to face Mary Street with the original building being retained as a hall. In December 2007 the Samoan Methodist Church purchased the church with Samoan-language services being conducted from 27 January 2008. Blackstone State School opened on 17 January 1887 and closed on 31 December 2009. The school was at 14 Hill Street (). The school's website was archived. At some time after 1980, Bundamba Uniting Church and Blackstone Uniting Church joined Trinity Uniting Church in North Booval which was then renamed Trinity Ipswich Uniting Church.

Demographics

In the , Blackstone had a population of 1,017 people. In the , Blackstone had a population of 1,024 people. In the , Blackstone had a population of 1,144 people.

Heritage listings

Blackstone has a number of

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...

sites, including: * 6 Thomas Street: United Welsh Church, Blackstone * 14 Mary Street: Blackstone Congregational Church, Blackstone * 20 Thomas Street: Cambrian House, Blackstone * 16 Hill Street: Blackstone State School, Blackstone

Education

There are no schools in Blackstone. The nearest primary schools are in neighbouring

Silkstone Silkstone is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, between the towns of Barnsley and Penistone. The parish includes the village of Sil ...

, Raceview and Bundamba. The nearest secondary schools are in Bundamba and Ipswich CBD ( Bremer State High School).

Amenities

Samoan Methodist Church is at 14 Mary Street (corner Thomas Street, ). The original church entrance can be seen from Thomas Street, while the later church entrance can be seen from Mary Street.

References

External links

* {{Ipswich City Suburbs of Ipswich, Queensland