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

This week I was asked by one of my local newspapers, the Ipswich News, what I thought the icons of Ipswich were. I mentioned St Mary’s Catholic Church in Ipswich—a beautiful building—and St Paul’s Anglican Church as well. But it got me thinking about the icons of Ipswich. Last year we celebrated 160 years of Methodist worship in Ipswich and this year St Paul’s has its 160th birthday. I was pleased to attend the service to commemorate that and to recognise the wonderful work St Paul’s Anglican Church does in the Ipswich community. This weekend my own church, Ipswich Baptist Church, celebrates its 150th birthday.

Ipswich is Queensland’s oldest city. As I have said before, it could and should have been the capital of Queensland. When it was first established, back in about 1843, it was called Limestone. Three years later we started mining coal in Ipswich and have mined coal since that time. Ipswich was an agricultural community and later became a manufacturing industrial community. It has fought back brilliantly in the last few years. I was thinking about what my own church has meant for the city of Ipswich. Originally, the Baptists and the Congregationalists in Ipswich met together under the Reverend Thomas Deakin. They agreed to separate and go their own ways over theological matters, but it was an amiable separation and every year when I was a boy, and later as a young man, we would celebrate Easter Good Friday service and Christmas together. That tradition continued when the congregation formed part of the Uniting Church.

The situation is that my church, Ipswich Baptist Church, started off in what is now known as a tenpin bowling centre in Ipswich, in the heart of the CBD, and then moved to the site where they had their celebration services, right opposite the Prince of Wales pub. In fact, they always commented that the pastor at Ipswich Baptist Church was always a great preacher because he used to preach in front of the Prince of Wales every Sunday. That church existed on that site for a long time, until the last few years, when it relocated, because of growth and for other reasons, to the current site. Going back to its sporting roots, it is now worshipping in what was the old indoor cricket centre at Brassall, near my electorate office.

I have been involved in that church and the Baptist churches in Ipswich all my life—in fact, I married the senior pastor’s daughter—so that church has meant a lot to me. It was there in that church that I went to Sunday school, was baptised and became a church member and ultimately a deacon. For 150 years, Ipswich Baptist Church has been looking after the spiritual and material welfare of people in Ipswich. It has been involved in all kinds of things. Currently there are five chaplains involved in chaplaincy work in schools. There are four pastors, including the senior pastor, who is a new pastor, the Reverend Ashley Saunders. Just to show those opposite that we are quite ecumenical in the Baptist Church, the Reverend Ashley Saunders was actually a Liberal Party candidate a couple of times in, I think, Hunter and was on the state administrative committee of the Liberal Party in New South Wales. He is a great bloke; I do not know how he could have remained in the Liberal Party for such a long period of time!

The Ipswich Baptist Church has been looking after those who are poor, those who are weak and those who are oppressed for 150 years. Even now, it runs a counselling and outreach ministry in the heart of the city, called 241. It is partnering with other churches in helping those who are homeless and those suffering from addiction to drugs and alcohol. It is a great church when it comes to caring for those who are challenged and those with difficulties. Recently, with the Mayor of Ipswich, Paul Pisasale, I was privileged to put the time capsule at the front of the church. The council has been terrific in support of the church, giving $10,000 for the beautification of the gardens there at the new facility.

I want to congratulate the church for what it has meant to me and my family and to Ipswich. I honour those who have gone before: the Reverend Noel Charles, the Reverend John White, the Reverend Geoff Litzow and the Reverend Steve Cooper. I also recognise my uncle Merv Neumann, who was there for 25 years or more as the church secretary. Well done and happy birthday, Ipswich Baptist Church. (Time expired)