Innovatia

with a competitor to form Helidon Gardner Pty Ltd, trading under the brand name Kirk’s. TheBundaberg Distilling Companywas formed in 1888 to supplement returns from the local sug- ar industry and utilise molasses. The first Bund- aberg Rum was distilled in 1889, and the follow- ing year it was being sold interstate; however, the company did not return a profit until 1898. Victorian brothers Nicholas and Edward Fitzgerald bought the site of a failing distillery on Milton Road in 1877. They opened a brewery named Castlemaine and brewed their first beer, XXX Sparkling Ale, in 1878.

Sarah Jenyns – a mother of eight, competent seamstress and trained surgical maker – first es- tablished a business with her husband, Ebenezer, in 1907 in Elizabeth Street, Brisbane. Within two years, her business, later to become Jenyns Patent Corset Pty Ltd, was so successful that larger premises were acquired in George Street where, at its height, more than 200 ma- chinists were employed. It is fair to say Sarah is one of Queensland’s first global entrepreneurs, licensing her patents in Australia (1910) and worldwide (1912) to man- ufacture her products internationally. The busi- ness became Australia’s largest bra manufacturer and employed 1,100 people at its peak. Queensland business leaders In 2009, the Queensland University of Technology Business School, in conjunction with the Queens- land Library Foundation, The State Library of Queensland, and the Queensland Government, established the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame where the stories of businesses and leaders are documented, stored and celebrated. Each year a significant dinner is held to name new inductees and celebrate the outstanding contributions made by Queensland businesses and leaders. While the Queensland State Library is home to many extraordinary stories, two stand out: Springfield City Group, the world’s first privately built city; and Australia’s first privately built air- port in Toowoomba, the scope and scale of each being well beyond the traditional view of busi- ness innovation. Start-ups and unicorns The tech sector is an emerging industry of the

QUEENSLAND: A BRANCH OFFICE STATE IN A BRANCH OFFICE COUNTRY From gold rush entrepreneurs to 21st century unicorns, Queensland has a rich business history. Ben Kehoe asks: what needs to be in place to fuel growth and innovation in the state into 2050?

The early days of business Queensland was the final state to be pro- claimed on June 6, 1859, with Brisbane named the capital city. At its first census on April 7, 1861, the popula- tion was 30,059, comprising 18,121 males and 11,938 females. James Nash’s discovery of gold in Gymp- ie in 1867 led to a gold rush and a significant increase in the state’s population. Were it not for this discovery, the colony might have been bankrupt! Naturally, the early Queensland economy was based around agriculture and gold min- ing, yet there were the beginnings of some sig- nificant innovative businesses. Chemist Reginald Larard discovered water rising naturally from the ground near Helidon in the Lockyer Valley and became the first per- son to bottle and sell it in 1879. Originally Oo- gar Dang Water, reflecting the Aboriginal name for the springs, it was later marketed as Helidon Spa Water. In the 1950s, the company merged

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