WATCH & LEARN
BLACKSMITHING HERITAGE WORKSHOPS
6 and 7 September
INK AND DRINK - LETTERPRESS PRINTING
6 September – SOLD OUT
LEATHERCRAFT BELT WORKSHOP
6 and 7 September
SAVAGE CUSTOM CREATIVE JAPANESE CHEF KNIFE MAKING WORKSHOP
6, 11, 12, and 14 September
FOREIGNERS ON THE SLIDE
6 and 7 September
IPSWICH ANTIQUE CENTRE PRESENTATION
7 September
SAVAGE CUSTOM CREATIVE BEGINNER BLACKSMITH BLADE CLASSES
7, 11, 12 and 13 September
GRANDCHESTER LIVE MODEL STEAM RUNNING DAY AND DISPLAY DAY
7 and 11 September
CHASING OUR PAST-LOOKING FOR LEICHHARDT
9 September
SAVAGE CUSTOM CREATIVE TWO DAY KNIFE WORKSHOP
11/12 and 13/14 September
A GALVANIZED TRIVIA NIGHT
12 September
CHARACTER HOUSES
13 September
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Hear it first! Sign up and be the first to know about upcoming festivals and exclusive offers. SubscribeBLACKSMITHING HERITAGE WORKSHOPS
6 September 2025, 9.00 am – 12.00 pm or 1.00 pm – 4.00 pm
7 September 2025, 9.00 am – 4.00 pm
Queensland Museum Rail Workshops
Ticketed event – bookings essential
Age limit: 16+
Presented by Queensland Museum Rail Workshops
Stoke your creative fires and try your hand at this heritage trade with blacksmiths Rob Scully and Wayne Schmidt in a half-day workshop or a full day workshop.
TOTE DYEING WORKSHOP
6 September 2025
5.00 pm – 7.00 pm
Queensland Museum Rail Workshops
Ticketed event – bookings essential
Age limit: 18+
Presented by Queensland Museum Rail Workshops
CANCELED
Join artisan Norton Fredericks and explore the chemistry and beauty of botanical dyeing. Create your own eco-printed hemp and recycled cotton tote bag, plus two pieces of watercolour paper! All materials included.
INK AND DRINK - LETTERPRESS PRINTING
6 September 2025
6.00 pm – 8.00 pm
Queensland Museum Rail Workshops
Ticketed event – bookings essential
Age limit: 18+
Presented by Queensland Museum Rail Workshops
SOLD OUT
Join us for a unique evening of ink, creativity and connection. Create your own original print using historic type and laser-engraved designs and leave with a handcrafted keepsake. Includes one complimentary beverage and all materials.
LEATHERCRAFT BELT WORKSHOP
6 and 7 September 2025
9.00 am – 4.00 pm
Queensland Museum Rail Workshops
Ticketed event – bookings essential
Age limit: 16+
Presented by Queensland Museum Rail Workshops
Join artisans Nathan and Terri from TJ’s Leathercraft and create your own bespoke leather belt. Design and decorate your own unique belt to take home.
FOREIGNERS ON THE SLIDE
6 and 7 September 2025
9.30 am – 4.00 pm
Queensland Museum Rail Workshops
Free with Museum entry
Presented by Queensland Museum Rail Workshops
Take a peek at our slideshow featuring ‘Foreigner’ objects – unique items secretly crafted by Ipswich Rail Workshop employees using workshop tools.
SAVAGE CUSTOM CREATIVE JAPANESE CHEF KNIFE MAKING WORKSHOP
6, 11, 12 and 14 September 2025
West Ipswich
Ticketed event – bookings essential
Presented by Savage Custom Creative
Come spend a day forging a knife and go home with your very own hand-forged chef knife. Made from high carbon steel with a Japanese wa handle.
SAVAGE CUSTOM CREATIVE BEGINNER BLACKSMITH BLADE CLASSES
7, 11, 12 and 13 September 2025
West Ipswich
Ticketed event – bookings essential
Presented by Savage Custom Creative
This class will give you all the basic tips, tricks and techniques to get into blacksmithing at home. We will forge a blacksmith blade, heat treat, grind bevels, add a machine finish, and then we finish it off with sharpening.
IPSWICH ANTIQUE CENTRE PRESENTATION
7 September 2025
2.00 pm
86 East Street, Ipswich
Free – bookings essential
Presented by Ipswich Antique Centre
Enjoy a presentation on the restoration of the Congregational Sunday School Hall and its conversion into the Ipswich Antique Centre in 2010.
GRANDCHESTER LIVE MODEL STEAM RUNNING DAY AND DISPLAY DAY
7 September 2025 – Running Day
11 September 2025 – Static Display Day
10.00 am – 2.00 pm
2 Ipswich Street, Grandchester
Tickets available onsite, cash only
Presented by Grandchester Live Model Steam Group
Enjoy a family day in the country riding the scaled down versions of actual coal burning steam engines.
Enclosed shoes required. Food and refreshments available onsite or bring your own picnic.
For more information visit the Celebrating Grandchester’s Railway History since 1994 page
CHASING OUR PAST – LOOKING FOR LEICHHARDT
9 September 2025
6.00 pm – 7.30 pm
Event Space 3, 1 Nicholas Street, Ipswich
Free event – bookings essential
Presented by Ipswich Libraries
In April 1847 Ludwig Leichhardt, his band of men, and their animals left the last outpost of settlement and were never seen again.
Professor Rod Fensham has been looking for Leichhardt, not in the desert where he disappeared, but amongst his diaries, specimen labels and pencilled notes. Join us as he shares his fascinating insights into the life and character of this mysterious figure.
Professor Rod Fensham is an ecologist at the University of Queensland and Queensland Herbarium. Whilst Rod’s research focuses on quantitative field ecology, he became interested in Ludwig Leichhardt because of his early record of the nature of Queensland. He soon became interested in the man and was astonished to learn there were unpublished diaries relating to his time around Brisbane. Rod and fellow academic Thomas A Darragh received Queensland Government funding to have the diaries translated and published in 2013.
A GALVANIZED TRIVIA NIGHT
12 September 2025
6.30 pm
Café Providence, 6 Amity Way, South Ripley
$12 per person (under 16 years free)
Presented by Providence Stockland and Ripley Valley Community Inc.
Gather your team, enjoy a fun-filled evening of fascinating facts, local legends, and historical surprises. Prizes, laughs and bragging rights await! With the theme ‘A Step Back in Time’, dress in your favourite era!
CHARACTER HOUSES – LIVING, LOVING, BUILDING THE LEGACY
13 September 2025
2.30 pm – 4.00 pm
Dandiiri Room, 1 Nicholas Street, Ipswich
Free – bookings essential
Presented by Ipswich City Council
Ipswich is home to over 7,000 culturally significant heritage places—many of them privately owned character homes of diverse styles and eras. This public talk introduces the new 2025 Character Code and informally explores what it means to be a custodian of a character house today. Hear from a range of voices as we unpack the priorities, passions and pitfalls of preserving heritage at home.
SAVAGE CUSTOM CREATIVE TWO DAY KNIFE WORKSHOP
11/12 and 13/14 September 2025
West Ipswich
Ticketed event – bookings essential
Presented by Savage Custom Creative
In the two-day class, we go through the whole process of making a custom stainless-steel knife from start to finish.