Commission of Inquiry into Deebing Creek Mission sale to developers

Eligibility - Queensland citizens
Principal Petitioner:
Gary Duffy
47 Blackall Street
EAST IPSWICH QLD 4305
Total Signatures - 7,068
Sponsoring Member: The Clerk of the Parliament
Posting Date: 1/3/2019
Closing Date: 28/4/2019
Tabled Date: 30/4/2019
Responded By: Hon Cameron Dick MP on 30/5/2019
TO: The Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland

Queensland citizens draws to the attention of the House that Deebing Creek Mission (Ipswich) was founded around 1887. Two further portions of land were gazetted in 1892. This area, with the proclamation of additional land, became what is known as the Deebing Creek Mission.

The Deebing Creek Mission was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in September 2004 due to: its importance as a place that demonstrates the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history; it being a place that has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland’s history; and it being a place that has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

In 2015, a foreign owned development company purchased 115 hectares of land, including the Deebing Creek Mission and cemetery sites, as freehold land under the Ripley Valley Priority Development Area.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to call on the Queensland Government to establish a Commission of Inquiry to inquire into and report on:

(a)   the historical process that led to the transfer of title of the Deebing Mission site from its use for traditional owners to foreign owned developers;
(b)   the development approval process of the Ipswich City Council relating to land around the Deebing Mission and cemetery site;
(c)   the importance of the site to traditional owners;
(d)   the impact of proposed development around the Deebing Mission and the cemetery; and
(e)   the protection of the area.