About

The Ipswich Chamber of Commerce and Industry was launched on 31 May 1906 at a public meeting held in the Technical College on Limestone Street.

The formation of the Chamber emerged in response to the growing and diverse business activities in the wider Ipswich region including retail, mining, milling, heavy industry and a wide range of farming interests. Speakers at the launch included the president of the Brisbane Chamber of Commerce, Mr A.J. Carter and T.C. Beirne. Mr Ambrose J. Foote of the famed Ipswich retail icon Cribb and Foote moved the first resolution – “That in the opinion of this meeting, it is desirable that a Chamber of Commerce and Industry should be established in Ipswich”.

The very first Ipswich Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed forty financial members who then elected Ambrose Foote as the first president.

The agenda for the Chamber in its first year is much the same as today: to promote the best interests of local business and industry and to discuss anything affecting the best interests of the city and surrounding districts.

The Chamber’s membership of forty in its first year has grown to number in the hundreds today. This is a tribute to the breadth of business resilience and talent in our region, and to the Chamber’s commitment to renewal in order to meet the evolving and changing needs of members.

The Ipswich Chamber of Commerce and Industry continues to build on its proud past and look to the future with positivity and confidence.